Central SOEs profits up

Helped by steady productivity gains and effective cost controls, China's 170 Beijing controlled state owned enterprises (SOEs) posted a collective first quarter profit of RMB140.4bn (US$17bn), on a 31.2% year-on-year growth on sales of RMB1.4trn (US$169bn), state media reported, citing the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). In the first quarter, the central coal enterprises produced 56.4m tons of coal, up 25.9% year-on-year, and petroleum and chemical firms raised their output of crude oil by 4.6% to 50m tons during the period.