BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's 168 central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) made a combined profit of 157 billion yuan (19.6 billion US dollars) from January to March, up 10.3 percent on last year.

    Of the 168 enterprises, 111 enjoyed an increase in profits and industrial firms' profits grew 19 percent to 104 billion yuan, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said on its website on Thursday.

    SOEs in the machinery industry led the way in terms of increased profits with a growth rate of more than 16 times. They were followed by those in the war industry; the construction industry; the oil and petrochemical industry; and the electric power industry.

    In the first quarter of 2006, the sales income of the central SOEs grew 20 percent from the previous year to about 1.7 trillion yuan.

    During the period, the production of the two coal producers grew 14 percent to 67 million tons; electricity generated by the five power companies grew 10 percent to 248 billion kilowatt-hour; crude oil production grew 6.1 percent to 51 million tons, with 7.68 million tons produced overseas. Enditem