But only a small number of the top 1,000 are privately or collectively owned, it revealed.

In common with practices in foreign countries, the top 1,000 companies were selected according to their 2003 sales incomes.

Of the 1,000 firms, 312 are State-owned, 291 are shareholding or limited companies and 332 are overseas-funded, the bureau said.

A large number of the companies at the top of the list are in monopoly sectors such as oil and telecommunications, the bureau said.

It added said that these firms benefit greatly from the present economic system and favourable government policies.

Their advantages in terms of sales and higher profits did not reflect the current state of market competition.

The bureau pointed out that firms in sectors which experience the fiercest market competition, such as services, high-tech and manufacturing, were usually smaller and accounted for the minority of firms on the list.

The Daqing Oilfield Co Ltd topped the list with sales of 85.6 billion yuan US$10.3 billion) last year, it said.

The Jiangsu Electricity Power Company and Hongfujin Precision Industrial (Shenzhen) Co Ltd ranked second and third with sales of 59.4 billion yuan (US$7.2 billion) and 54.8 billion yuan (US$6.6 billion) respectively.

More than half of the list was dominated by firms from the nation's major industrial sectors - telecommunication equipment, computers and other electronics equipment, steel, transportation equipment and power generation.

State Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Director Pan Yue said publication of the list was highly significant as it increased both the social and competition awareness of China's industrial firms.

An important part of the national economy, industrial companies consume a large amount of natural resources, he said.

He urged the management of industrial companies to " stick to the concept of a people-oriented development strategy."

While they should make a higher contribution to the gross domestic product, these firms should also pay more attention to their use of natural resources and to environmental protection, he said.

Qiu Xiaohua, deputy head of the statistics bureau, said the 1,000 companies represented the vanguard of China's industrial development.

"They have played an important role in the sustainable development of the country's economy," he said.

The top 1,000 companies, which account for 0.5 per cent of the country's total industrial companies, earned 5.3 trillion yuan (US$634.8 billion) in sales income, accounting for 36.8 per cent of the total.

These companies, whose total assets account for 33.8 per cent of the nation's total industrial companies, contributed half of China's total industrial profits.