CHINA'S state-owned enterprises under the central government posted lower growth in earnings in the first 11 months of the year due to the slowing global economy and higher cost pressures.

Their combined net profit gained 3.6 percent annually to 831.8 billion yuan (US$131 billion) in January-November, Wang Yong, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said at a conference in Beijing yesterday.

Revenue, however, rose 22.6 percent to 18.4 trillion yuan in the 11-month period, he said.

Wang Yong attributed the slowdown to the slowing global economy, lower demand, higher costs, a volatile financial market and tight credit conditions.

Wang Zhigang, head of corporate research at SASAC, told Xinhua news agency that Chinese companies face pressure from the lingering European sovereign debt crisis which has caused wild fluctuations in commodity prices.

Of China's 117 centrally administered SOEs, earnings at 82 of them expanded in the first 11 months, Wang Yong said.