BEIJING - Profits at China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) continued to drop in the first quarter of the year, but at a slower pace, official data showed on Thursday.

SOEs' combined profits fell 8 percent year on year to 499.73 billion yuan ($81.52 billion) during the January-March period, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its website.

The decline compares to a 21.5 percent slump registered in the January-February period this year and a 3.3 percent growth during the same period last year.

Total business revenues for the state firms shrank 6 percent year on year to 10.32 trillion yuan in the first quarter, while operating costs retreated 5.1 percent to 10.03 trillion yuan.

By the end of March, SOEs' total assets reached 105.49 trillion yuan, up 12 percent year on year. Liabilities grew 11.9 percent year on year to 68.58 trillion yuan.

Electronics, property, electricity and chemical sectors reported strong profit rises in the first three months, but oil, construction materials and machinery saw notable drops in profits. Steel, non-ferrous metals, coal and petrochemical sectors reported losses, the ministry said.

The figures, which exclude financial firms, were collected from SOEs in 36 provincial-level regions and those administered by the central government.

China has thousands of SOEs, 113 of which are directly administered by the country's central authorities.