Aug. 16, 2012 (China Knowledge) - China's state-owned enterprises saw their gross profit fall 13.2% YoY to RMB 1.2 trillion in the first seven months of this year, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Finance.

The decline was larger than the 11.6% decrease in the first half.

In July, the gross profit fell 11.6% month on month.

The country's SOEs administered by the central government realized a total gross profit of RMB 823.67 billion from January to July, down 10.7% from the same period of 2011, while gross profit from local SOEs dropped 18.3% YoY to RMB 376.33 billion.

From January to July 2012, Chinese SOEs saw their operating revenue amount to RMB 23.29 trillion, 10.4% more than a year earlier. The operating revenue of the centrally-controlled enterprises increased 9.5% YoY to RMB 14.39 trillion and that of the locally-administered SOEs rose 11.8% to RMB 8.89 trillion.

The SOEs' costs and expenditures for the seven-month period grew 12% YoY to RMB 22.27 trillion, of which the operating cost rose 11.7% YoY and financial cost surged 40.4% YoY. Their average net profit margin on sales was 3.8% in the period, 1.1 percentage points lower than in the same period of 2011. Return on net assets fell 1 percentage point YoY to 3.4% during the period.