BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Profits of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) maintained steady growth in the first 10 months of this year, official data showed.

The combined SOEs' profits went up 17.3 percent year on year to 2.8 trillion yuan (about 400 billion U.S. dollars) in the Jan-Oct period, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Tuesday. The growth pace was largely stable, although slightly slower than the 19.1-percent rise registered in the first nine months.

"SOEs showed stronger debt paying ability and higher profitability than the same period a year ago," the MOF said, in particular citing stellar performance in steel, petroleum and petrochemicals and non-ferrous sectors. Aggregate revenues climbed 10.6 percent from a year earlier to 46.95 trillion yuan in the first 10 months, and total SOE assets amounted to 175.72 trillion yuan, up 8.5 percent.