95 Chinese companies make Fortune Global 500

A total of 95 Chinese companies are named in the newly released Fortune Global 500 list, marking the 10th consecutive year-on-year increase with 16 more entries than last year, according to a list published by Fortune magazine Monday.

Among the 95 Chinese companies, 89 are from the mainland and Hong Kong while the rest are from Taiwan, according to the Fortune Global 500, an annual list ranking the world's largest corporations in terms of revenue.

The number of Chinese companies on the list is second only to the US, which has 132 entries. The total revenue of the 95 Chinese companies amounted to $5.2 trillion last year, accounting for 17 percent of the total revenue generated by the 500 companies, according to the US magazine.

At the top of this year's list was UK-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell. China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and State Grid Corporation of China were among this year's top 10, ranking fourth, fifth and seventh respectively.

"It is no surprise to see Chinese energy companies performing well on the list, given the huge energy demand in China," Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times Monday.

Lin says Sinopec and CNPC have the potential to leap forward and rank first or second within the next three years.

There are also 18 Chinese companies making a debut on this year's list, including BAIC Group, China Minsheng Ba­n­k­­­ing Corp and Shanxi Coking Coal Group.

The number of Chinese companies on the list could reach 110 by 2014, and China might catch up with the US and become the country with the most listed companies by 2015, L. Michael Cacace, a senior editor at Fortune, predicted in an article published Monday on fortunechina.com.

Despite the booming picture shown by the list, not all firms on the Chinese mainland are exhibiting strong performance, Zhou Zhanhong, assistant managing editor with Fortune China, said Monday on the website.

Zhou also noted that the mainland companies on the list are largely from sectors such as steel, automobiles, chemicals and finance. For instance, the nine commercial banks on the list accounted for 55.2 percent of the total profits created by the 89 mainland and Hong Kong firms.

Mostly State-owned mainland companies made the list while few private firms did, which means that the country's economic efficiency still has plenty of room for improvement, he said.