The operating revenues of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) dropped 7.3 percent year on year to5.97 trillion yuan (854 billion U.S. dollars) in the first four months, the Ministry of Finance announced Wednesday.

The decline was 0.3 percentage points lower than that of the first three months, said a statement on the ministry's website.

Profits of the 115,000 SOEs totaled 323.64 billion yuan in the first four months, down 32.3 percent from a year earlier. The fall was 4.5 percentage points lower than that of the first quarter.

The 137 centrally administered SOEs saw operating revenues fall9.5 percent year on year to 3.17 trillion yuan in the first four months.

They posted a 37-percent year-on-year drop in profits, which stood at 171.37 billion yuan from January to April.

Tobacco, construction and property sectors saw profits increase, while coal, construction materials, business and trade reported stable profits. Petroleum and petrochemical, machinery, and automobiles saw small profit drops, while steel and shipping continued to suffer losses, said the statement.

Specific figures were not disclosed.

The combined profits of China's SOEs, excluding financial institutions, totaled 217.7 billion yuan in the first quarter, accounting for 3.31 percent of the country's gross domestic product.