BEIJING - Profits at State-owned enterprises (SOEs) continued their steady growth in the first eight months of 2017, but at a slower pace, data showed Tuesday.

Combined SOE profits rose 21.7 percent from a year earlier to 1.9 trillion yuan (around $289.6 billion) for January-August, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.

This marked the third straight month of growth deceleration. However, growth remained solid compared with the same period of 2016, when profits at SOEs declined 1.3 percent year on year.

Business revenue of the companies totaled 33.1 trillion yuan for the first eight months of the year, up 15.5 percent from one year earlier. Their operating costs climbed 14.7 percent to 31.9 trillion yuan during the same period.

By the end of August, the total assets of SOEs stood at 146.3 trillion yuan, while their liabilities reached 96.5 trillion yuan, both up 11 percent compared with one year earlier.

SOEs in steel and non-ferrous metal sectors continued strong profit growth. Transportation, coal, oil and petrochemical industries enjoyed relatively large profit increases, but power generation firms suffered significant declines.