This undated file photo shows a steel factory of China Baowu Steel Group Corporation Limited, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, in Shanghai, China. (PHOTO / CHINA BAOWU VIA XINHUA)

BEIJING - The profits of China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) remained stable during the first 11 months of 2023, the country's top state assets regulator said.

Total profits of China's central SOEs reached 2.4 trillion yuan (about $338.2 billion) in the January-November period, according to a meeting held by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council that concluded Tuesday.

According to the SASAC, the central SOEs have increased spending on research and development (R&D) to boost innovation-driven development

During this period, the fixed-asset investment of central SOEs, including real estate, expanded 9.1 percent year-on-year to 4.1 trillion yuan, data from the SASAC showed.

According to the SASAC, the central SOEs have increased spending on research and development (R&D) to boost innovation-driven development. In the first 11 months of 2023, their total R&D input topped 900 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 70 billion yuan compared with the same period a year earlier.

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Tuesday's data also revealed that the productivity of central SOEs increased steadily in this period, with their annualized overall labor productivity reaching 773,000 yuan per person, up 3.8 percent year-on-year.