In the first half of this year, the profit of enterprises owned by the central government grew 29.1 percent year on year to 298.8 billion yuan (US$36.9 billion), according to the latest figures released by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) under the State Council.

The added value of these state-owned enterprises during the period grew 25.3 percent to 932.24 billion yuan, with sales income standing at 3.119 billion yuan, up 24.6 percent year on year, according to SASAC figures.

State-owned enterprises' output of coal, electricity and oil as well as transport turnover grew rapidly during the first six months this year.

During the period, China's largest coal producer Shenhua Group, and China Coal, the nation's largest coal trader and another major coal producer, together produced 107 million tons of coal, up 26.6 percent.

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, altogether produced 100.5 million tons of crude oil during the period, up 4.4 percent, and 24.67 billion cubic meters of natural gas, increasing 15.6 percent.

During the January-June period, these enterprises generated 556.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, up 15.4 percent.

During the period, the steel output of four major State-owned enterprises grew only 6.2 percent year on year, but their profit jumped 39.0 percent.

Those telecommunication enterprises overseen by the SASAC witnessed their profit grow 14.9 percent year on year to 67.45 billion yuan, according to SASAC figures.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2005)