Most of the 97 centrally-administered State-owned enterprises will register positive growth during the second half of the year, despite the negative effect of the COVID-19 epidemic, a senior official said on Thursday.

The government will optimize central SOEs' resources to develop both global and domestic markets, ensure the supply of basic goods and commodities, maintain the safety of industrial and supply chains, and strive to achieve quality and efficient economic growth in the second half of this year, said Peng Huagang, secretary-general of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

The official stressed that the upcoming three-year action plan for State-owned enterprises (2020-22) will enhance China's efforts to steer the economy toward innovation and technology-driven high-quality growth.

The action plan was approved by the 14th meeting of the Central Committee for Deepening Overall Reform late last month.

The total net profit of central SOEs grew by 5 percent on a yearly basis to 166.48 billion yuan ($23.79 billion) in June this year. Industries such as power generation, metallurgy and construction saw their profits surge 10 percent on a yearly basis last month, according to the nation's top State assets regulator.

Central SOEs are large groups within the jurisdiction of the central authorities, while SOEs refer to all enterprises owned by all levels of government.

China State Shipbuilding Corp, the country's largest shipbuilder by production volume and a central SOE, said its new shipbuilding orders rose by 34.2 percent on a yearly basis to 5.35 million metric tons in the first half of this year.

Sun Wei, deputy general manager of the CSSC, said the group will deploy more resources for the development of products like mega-container vessels, liquefied natural gas carriers, floating hospitals, semi-submerged ships and ocean farms, as well as build more dual-fuel ships and gas-fueled vessels. At present it mainly builds conventional ships such as bulk carriers, container ships and oil tankers.

The total operating revenue of central SOEs fell by 7.8 percent on a yearly basis to 13.4 trillion yuan in the first six months of this year, down 2.1 percentage points than the first five months and 4 percentage points lower than the first quarter. The rate of decline has been narrowing for three consecutive months, said the SASAC.

Total profit of central SOEs amounted to 438.55 billion yuan during the first six months, down by 37.7 percent year-on-year. The commission said the decline in net profit and revenue was due to the COVID-19 outbreak.