In the first 10 months of 2006, profits of China's 446 major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) reached 744.56 billion yuan, up 18.6 percent year on year. The growth rate was 4.8 percentage points higher than the average level of the first six months and 0.4 percentage points higher than that of the first three quarters, respectively.

Statistics released by the State-owned Assets Administration and Supervision Commission of the State Council reveal that, during the January-October period, the gap between the growth rates of business costs and turnovers had narrowed, resulting in an increase in profits. Some sectors, such as building materials, construction and textiles, had even seen a growth rate above 22 percent.

In the period, the major SOEs generated 8,379.1 billion yuan, an increase of 20.3 percent year on year. It was the fastest growth since the beginning of 2006, which was 1.2 percentage points higher than that of the first half of the year and 0.9 percentage points higher than that of the first nine months, respectively.

(China.org.cn)