Six major industries are playing an increasingly important role in production in Shanghai.

The automobile, telecoms, steel, petrochemicals, power station equipment, and household electric appliances industries had a combined output of 199.3 billion yuan in the first nine months of this year, or nearly half the city's total output.

The figure was 28.9 billion yuan more than for the same 1998 period.

The ratio of sales to production of the six industries was 97.9 percent for the nine-month period, higher than the city's industrial average.

The industries had combined profits of 11.7 billion yuan, up 19 percent on a yearly basis. The biggest profit maker was the automobile industry.