China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly under the central government reported a sharp profit decline of 26 percent in the first 11 months this year, figures released Monday showed.

These SOEs posted a business revenue of 10.76 trillion yuan in the first 11 months, up 20.2 percent year-on-year.

According to statistics from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), the combined profits of the SOE giants stood at 683 billion yuan (99.7 billion US dollars) from January to November, 239.4 billion yuan less year on year.

According to the top state asset watchdog, most of the loss came from petroleum and electricity industries, which suffered from government capped pricing system.

Other industries saw their profits slightly down by 3 percent. But only 52.4 percent – or 75 – of the 143 businesses reported a profit increase.

Analysts believed that a number of SOEs were having a hard time due to fluctuating energy and raw material prices, shrinking market demands and investment losses.

SASAC director Li Rongrong said that Chinese SOEs faced an "unprecedented grim situation" in the second half this year amid the global financial turmoil.

Li added that some SOEs saw more inventories, waning profitability and inadequate operating capital.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2008)