China's major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) reported a surge of 34.7 percent in combined profits in the first four months of the year compared with the same period last year.

 

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission reported the country's 424 major state-owned enterprises earned 348.81 billion yuan (about US$45 billion) in total profits in the first four months.

 

These enterprises delivered 183.87 billion yuan worth of goods for export in the first four months, up 27 percent over the same period last year.

 

The combined exports of these SOEs made up just over 6.6 percent of the country's total exports in the first four months of the year, which were valued at 2.7 trillion yuan.

 

More than 86.8 percent of the profits, or 303 billion yuan, were made in nine industries including petrochemicals, telecommunications, electricity, transport, metallurgy, coal, tobacco, auto and trade.

 

Profits in industries including metallurgy, textiles, autos, electricity, electronics, chemicals and building materials rose by more than 50 percent.

 

These SOEs, which are administered by the central or provincial governments, recorded 3.711 trillion yuan in aggregate sales revenue, up 19.2 percent on the same period last year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2007)