Profits of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) grew steadily in the first eight months of 2019, official data showed Wednesday.

The combined profits of China's SOEs rose by 6.1 percent year on year to 2.41 trillion yuan (about 340.88 billion U.S. dollars) for the January-August period, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.

The pace slowed from the 7.3-percent increase in the first seven months.

During the period, the SOEs in the sectors of construction, building materials, transport and storage registered rapid profit growth, the ministry said.

The total revenues of the SOEs reached 39.49 trillion yuan during the period, up 7.4 percent from a year earlier.

The SOEs paid 3.01 trillion yuan in taxes, down 0.3 percent year on year. Their debt-to-asset ratio stood at 64.4 percent at the end of August, according to the ministry.