Not surprisingly, Chinese firms in monopoly and resource sectors outperformed their counterparts in the competitive sector the third quarter of 2006, according to a report released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Thursday.

The report shows that in sectors such as tobacco, oil and natural gas exploitation, and nonferrous metal mining, approximately 70.9 percent, 74.2 percent and 57.9 percent of enterprises turned in a good operational performance in the third quarter.

By contrast, only 30 to 40 percent of enterprises that are buffeted by the winds of competition did well in the same period.

The report follows a September survey by the NDRC and the National Bureau of Statistics covering 20,800 large and medium sized enterprises.

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