Chinese State-owned enterprises reported solid profit growth in the first two months of 2018 as the economy kicked off the year with better-than-expected performance, official data showed on March 28.

Combined SOE profits rose 25.3 percent year-on-year to 367.3 billion yuan ($58.5 billion) for the January-February period, the Ministry of Finance said.

The growth was higher than the 23.5-percent increase seen in 2017.

SOE business revenue totaled 8.3 trillion yuan during the period, up 11.2 percent from a year earlier. Operating costs went up 10.6 percent to 8.1 trillion yuan.

By the end of February, total SOE assets stood at 163.6 trillion yuan, while their liabilities reached 107 trillion yuan, up 9.7 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.

SOEs in petrochemical, steel and power generation enjoyed relatively large profit increases, but non-ferrous metal firms suffered significant declines.

China has thousands of SOEs, but many have stagnated due to lack of competition. The government is improving their performance through a series of reforms, moving toward mixed ownership and market-oriented management.

China has undertaken several rounds of mixed-ownership reform, including one covering telecom giant China Unicom, to bring in private investment mainly by issuing shares.

Earlier this month, policymakers vowed to make Chinese SOEs front runners in pursuing high-quality development through reform and innovation.

China welcomes all types of enterprises, including foreign ones, to participate in mixed-ownership reform of SOEs, the State assets regulator has said.