China's major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under the supervision of the central government reported a 30-percent fall in net profit last year, the country's state assets supervisor said over the weekend.

A total of 141 SOEs under the supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council reported a net profit of 696.18 billion yuan (US$101.96 billion) last year, down 30.8 percent from a year ago, the commission said in an online statement.

Yet, total assets of the 141 SOEs rose for the fifth consecutive year since 2004. Assets of the 141 state firms were worth 5.56 trillion yuan at the end of 2008, up 8.6 percent from the previous year.

Net profit of centrally administered SOEs had been rising for four years in a row from 2004 to 2007, but it fell last year as the global financial crisis struck.

The commission said 83 out of the total 141 were able to report a year-on-year growth in net profit last year.

These 141 SOEs also turned in taxes worth 1.04 trillion yuan last year, up 18.6 percent from a year ago.

The total assets of centrally administered SOEs were augmented by 2.6 trillion yuan in the past five years, or at an annualized average of 13.7 percent from 2004 to 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2009)