China approves restructuring of two central SOEs

BEIJING — The State Council, China's cabinet, has approved the restructuring of two centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs), according to an official statement on July 8.

China Silk Corporation, the only central SOE to produce and sell silk as its main business, will be merged into China Poly Group Corporation Limited, said the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in a statement on its website.

China Silk Corporation will no longer be directly supervised by the SASAC after the merger, the statement said.

The move will bring the number of central SOEs under the direct supervision of the SASAC down to 96, sharply down from 196 in 2003.

Established in 1992, Poly Group is a conglomerate on the Fortune Global 500 list with businesses covering international trade, real estate, culture, civilian explosives production and investment in resource exploitation.