As many as 62 small and medium-sized enterprises in China have sought to issue private-placement bonds in pilot programs, Economic Information reported on Tuesday.

She Li, deputy head of the Shanghai Stock Exchange bond department, said that as many as 40 SMEs on the exchange seek to issue bonds with a total value of 4.1 billion yuan ($645 million).

Of those 40 SMEs, as many as 20 have already issued bonds with a value of 2.03 billion yuan. Bonds of 16 enterprises have been listed at the fixed-income platform of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and bonds with a total value of 1.31 billion yuan have been transferred by Aug 17, said She.?

Tan Yuan, of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, said 22 SMEs there sought to issue private placement bonds, among which 15 have already issued bonds of total value of 1.51 billion yuan.

As many as 14 bonds of 13 SMEs have been negotiated with a total value of 690 million yuan as of Aug 17, Tan said.

China launched pilot programs of SME private-placement bonds in May. Work related to the trial programs has gone smoothly, Economic Information reported.