The State Power Corporation of China, with up to 400.395 billion yuan (US$48.24 billion) of business revenue, is ranked number one in the top 500 Chinese enterprises this year. The following are those enterprises placed from second to eleventh:

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), China National Petroleum Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Mobile Communications Corporation, China National Chemicals Import & Export Corporation (Sinochem), China Telecommunications Corporation, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import & Export Corporation and the China Construction Bank.

The report indicated that though the top 500 enterprises in China grew last year, a few companies posted hefty losses with approximately one-third of enterprises narrowing profits.

According to the report, the average assets of the top 500 Chinese enterprises only accounts for 6.46 percent of the world top 500 enterprises this year. The average business revenue of Chinese top 500 companies only covered 5.26 percent of the world top 500 companies this year with average profits accounting for 12.06 percent of the world's leading companies.

Most Chinese enterprises have poor research and development capability, compared with multinational companies and invest less in developing key technology. No companies in the Chinese top 500 have gone into multinational business so far, according to the report.

(eastday.com August 31, 2002)