China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) donated altogether 248.34 million yuan (36.36 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year, the industry authorities said.

The money came from 49 of the 126 central SOEs under China's State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said a statement posted on its website Friday.

Some 36.6 percent of the donation went to disaster-hit areas, including China's southwest provinces where a lingering drought had affected 27.02 million people in Yunnan Province alone as of last week.

China's three oil giants, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), PetroChina Co. (PetroChina) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) ranked top three in the list of the most generous donors with their donation accounting for over 40 percent of the total.