Profits of Chinese SOEs Hit US$124 Billion in 2006 
 
China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) made total profits of 965 billion yuan (US$124 billion) in 2006, said a senior official Thursday.

Li Rongrong, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), released the figures at the national work conference on state-owned assets administration.

The 159 central SOEs under the direct supervision of SASAC made a profit of 755 billion yuan in 2006, up 18 percent over 2005. And the 1,031 local SOEs overseen by provincial or municipal-level governments made a profit of 210 billion yuan, up 38 percent.

In 2006, sales volume of the central SOEs grew 20 percent year on year to 8137 billion yuan, and that of the local ones grew 19 percent to 397 billion yuan.

By the end of 2006, the total assets of the central SOEs reached 12 trillion yuan, up 16 percent, while total assets of local SOEs grew nearly 19 percent to 7.7 trillion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)