Employees from a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp install clean-energy equipment in Nantong, Jiangsu province. (Photo: Xinhua)

BEIJING - Profits of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) grew steadily in the first two months of 2019, official data showed Monday.

The combined profits of China's SOEs rose 10 percent year on year to 452 billion yuan (about 67 billion US dollars) for the January-February period, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on its website.

SOEs have generated a revenue of 8.7 trillion yuan during the period, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier, and its operating costs saw a 6.5-percent rise to 8.4 trillion yuan.

By the end of February, total SOE assets had reached 187.98 trillion yuan, up 8.5 percent in the first two months of this year, while their liabilities went up 8.1 percent to 121.14 trillion yuan.

The debt-to-asset ratio of the SOEs went down 0.3 percentage points to 64.4 percent, according to the MOF.

SOEs in sectors including oil and non-ferrous metals posted stronger profit growth during the period.