Big state enterprises to sell 5.3 trillion yuan of product

China's top state assets official said in Beijing Monday that 2004 sales of the enterprises owned by the central government are expected to reach a record high of 5.3 trillion yuan (640.87 billion US dollars).

Li Rongrong, minister in charge of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) under the State Council, said in the first ten month the 186 big enterprises, which were overseen by the SASAC, reached 4.46781 trillion yuan insales, increasing by 1.00901 trillion yuan, or 29.2 percent compared with that in the same period last year.

At an annual conference of those enterprise leaders, Li said that from January to October, the enterprises gained 418.89 billion yuan in profit, with a year-on-year increase of 53.2 percent. The total profits in 2004 are expected to exceed 450 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, Li said, the enterprises paid 364.63 billion yuan worth of revenues, with an increase of 17.3 percent.

The energy and transportation enterprises were asked to churn out more products against the shortage of energy production in the mid of the year throughout the country. From January to October, those enterprises processed 208 million tons of crude oil and generated 731.7 billion kilowatts of electricity, accounting for 92.4 percent and 42 percent respectively of China's total production, Li said.

By October, the 186 enterprises owned total assets of 9.21507 trillion yuan, with a rise of 12.5 percent, including 3.94732 trillion yuan worth of net assets. The ratio of profits to net assets in 2004 is expected to reach 6.6 percent, or 1.6 percentage points more than that in 2003.

China Power International, China Shipping Container Liners and China Netcom were listed in overseas stock exchanges. China Mobile,China Telecom and Wuhan Steel have all subsidiaries taking their primary business listed in both domestic and overseas stock exchanges.

By September, state enterprises had held 168 companies listed in either Shanghai or Shenzhou stock exchanges, accounting for 33.8 percent of the total listed in the Chinese stock market.

Encouraged by the state, Petro China, Sinopec, Baosteel and other companies actively looked for resources supplies from overseas.

Fifty-three percent of the state enterprises established legal affairs offices. A total of 23 companies have already employed chief counselors-at-law.

The state enterprises still face tough issues for sustained development and profit making capability, Li said, adding that they need to further retool themselves.

Source: Xinhua