China's major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) reported a 33.5-percent rise in profits for the first seven months, said the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council on Monday.

Total profits of the 417 major enterprises rose to 661.5 billion yuan (88.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-July period, from 495.5 billion yuan a year earlier.

The power, metallurgical, transportation, automotive and foreign trade sectors rose by more than 67 percent, contributing 59.7 percent to the increased profits of the 28 sectors surveyed by the commission.

Sales revenues of the 417 enterprises hit 6.9 trillion yuan in the first seven months, up 20.5 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, their exports reached 343.6 billion yuan, up 17.9 percent, which was 10.9 percentage points lower than the rise in the same period of last year.

With restrictions on exports of natural resources, the oil and petrochemical sector saw its exports drop 28.3 percent, while exports in the coal sector declined 15 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2007)