Large SOEs post record profits

China’s biggest state-owned enterprises posted record profits of more than US$74.4 billion in 2005, partly based on soaring raw material prices, the South China Morning Post reported. Li Rongrong, chairman of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said profits for the 169 SOEs were up 27.9% on 2004, with asset value rising 15% to US$1.3 billion. Analysts ascribed the profit performance to the SOEs’ control of infrastructure, telecommunications and power generation on the mainland.