Twenty Chinese companies, including four newcomers, rank among the 500 largest firms in the world as listed in Fortune magazine's latest Global 500 published on Wednesday.

China's three largest state-owned construction firms ascend to the list for the first time, with China Railway Engineering ranking 441, China Railway Construction 485, and China State Construction 486.

Shanghai Automotive, at 475, is another new firm and the second Chinese auto maker on the list. China First Automotive secures its place, but drops from 448 last year to 470.

All the Chinese firms on last year's list maintain their places this year, with most moving up in ranking.

Sinopec, rising from 31 to 23, remains the largest Chinese company on the list. State Grid, up from 40 to 32, and China National Petroleum, up from 46 to 39, retain second and third Chinese placings respectively.

The four state-owned commercial banks of China move up substantially on the list from the previous year. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumps from 299 to 199, the Bank of China from 399 to 255, China Construction Bank from 315 to 277, and the Agricultural Bank of China from 397 to 377.

Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa also rose from 347 to 259.

According to Fortune magazine, five of the top 10 companies on the list came from the oil industry. US-based Exxon Mobil, with 339.94 billion US dollars in revenue, overtakes Wal-Mart Stores as the world's largest company.

The list will appear in Fortune's July 24 issue.

Source: Xinhua