China plans top-level design for reforming SOEs

China will draft up top-level designs for reforming State-owned enterprises in 2013, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

The initiative's primary goal, basic methods and specific measures will be established this year.

Wang Yong, director of the commission, said in a year-end meeting on Dec 24 that State-owned enterprises will be faced with more-fierce competition this year along with overcapacity in some industries and a rise in operation costs. Mergers and acquisitions will be carried out and obsolete production will be dealt with. Driving domestic production to international markets will also help ease overproduction.

Chinese State-owned enterprises reported having 20.1 trillion yuan ($3.23 trillion) in operating revenue from January to November of 2012, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the commission. They also had 1.1 trillion yuan in total profit in the same period, the same as the previous year. The total assets of State-owned enterprises amounted to 31.2 trillion yuan by the end of November, up 11.5 year-on-year.