China's 159 centrally-managed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) raked in 8,136.9 billion yuan (1,056.7 billion U.S. dollars) in sales revenue last year, a growth of 20.1 percent over the previous year, according to figures provided by the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

Major central SOEs from the coal, electric power and petroleum sectors posted big-margin growth in both production and sales, said sources with SASAC, which oversees the businesses on behalf of the central government.

The nation's two leading coal producers, Shenhua Group and China National Coal Energy Group, turned out 293 million tons of raw coal in 2006, up 18.1 percent. The former's sales volume topped 200 million tons, while the latter's exceeded 100 million tons.

By the end of last year, five leading power suppliers had combined installed capacity of 2.43 trillion kw, doubling the 2002 yearend level. They generated 1.13 trillion kw/h of electric power in 2006, up 17.1 percent.

Last year also saw the three leading oil and gas producers, namely China National Petroleum, China Petrochemical and China National Offshore Oil, pumped out more than 200 million tons of crude oil, up 4.3 percent, and 64.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas, up 21.1 percent. The combined output of oil products amounted to 172 million tons, up 4.8 percent.

Profits for the central SOEs increased by 18.2 percent to hit 754.7 billion yuan (98 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006.

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