Most enterprises directly under the central government can achieve, or outperform, their business targets this year, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said at a performance evaluation conference of such enterprises in Beijing on Dec 29.

Huang Shuhe, vice-minister of the commission, said the total profit of the enterprises in 2013 will reach about 1.3 trillion yuan ($213 billion) and the enterprises' overall annual economic added value will remain at more than 300 billion yuan.

The economic performance of most of the enterprises continued to improve from January to November, and 11 saw their annual profit rise by more than 5 billion yuan. The China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation's annual profit rose by more than 10 billion yuan, followed by China Huaneng Group, First Automobile Works, China Resources Group and China Guodian Corporation.

The enterprises running at a deficit also cut their losses by a large margin, the conference statement said.

It was not easy for the companies running at either a profit or a deficit to achieve such results this year in the fast-changing and complicated economic environment at home and abroad, Huang said.

Zhang Yi, minister of the commission, said at another conference in Beijing on Dec 26 that, from January to November, the overall operation revenue of the enterprises under direct supervision and administration of central government was 21.8 trillion yuan, rising 9.5 percent year-on-year; the net profit of the enterprises was 1.2 trillion yuan, increasing by 7.5 percent; and their overall tax was 1.8 trillion yuan, a 5.4-percent year-on-year growth.