China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Saturday announced the country's 1,050 most efficient enterprises, whose profits last year accounted for 42.1 percent of the total profits of all large and medium industrial enterprises in the country.

This is the first time such list has been compiled. It was created as part of the effort to encourage enterprises nationwide to improve their "efficiency and development patterns", said NBS Director Li Deshui at a press conference in Beijing.

Last year, the most efficient enterprises realized 13.49 yuan (US$1.5) in profits per 100 yuan (US$12) of assets, 270 percent higher than the average profits of enterprises in the industrial sector.

NBS statistics indicated that 80.1 percent of the most efficient enterprises are located in the eastern coastal regions, with Guangdong Province topping all other regions with 167 such enterprises, followed by Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

The western regions have the least such enterprises. The statistics showed only 79 of the most efficient businesses are located in western China, representing a mere 7.5 percent, while the number in central China is 130, accounting for 12.4 percent.

The most efficient enterprises were selected from 105 industrial sectors, including petroleum, electricity, coal and food that are either crucial to the national economy or closely related to people's daily life, Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2004)