Workers from the State Grid Corp of China help a barge to plug in to a charging pole built at a public wharf along the Yangtze River in East China's Jiangxi Province. River transport electrification is going full throttle in Ruichang, Jiangxi Province with 46 sets of riverbank charging poles for ships installed at all of the city's 13 wharves. Photo: VCG

The number of Chinese companies, including those from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the island of Taiwan, stood at 143 on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2021, making China No.1 on the list for a second consecutive year.

The Chinese mainland and Hong Kong SAR have a total of 135, up 11 from last year. The US is up one with 122, and Japan held steady with a total of 53, according to the Fortune Global 500 list released on Monday.

The Fortune Global 500 is an annual ranking of the top 500 enterprises worldwide as measured by business revenues.

Last year, the number of Chinese companies stood at 133, the first time China's number surpassed the US.

China's State Grid Co climbed to the second position on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2021, while technology giant Huawei ranked 44, up from 49 in the previous year, despite US government sanctions on the company.

Walmart claimed the top spot for the eighth consecutive year and the 16th time since 1995. 

There are a total of 45 new and re-listed companies in the Fortune Global 500 ranking this year, of which 18 are new and re-listed Chinese companies, including China State Shipbuilding Corp, Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group, Zhejiang Hengyi Group, and Sunac China Holdings Co.

Seven internet-related companies are on the list this year, including Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook in the US, along with China's JD.com, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings Co and Xiaomi Group. 

The rankings of internet giants generally improved, compared with last year. The largest increase in the rankings was for Xiaomi Group, which rose by 84 places.

Although the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 caused difficulties in business operations, the average revenue and profit of Chinese companies on the list were basically unchanged from 2019. 

At the same time, due to the rapid recovery from the coronavirus, the Chinese companies entering the 2021 rankings have not only expanded their advantages in total number but also improved their business conditions. The growth of international trade has promoted the recovery and stable development of Chinese companies' operations.

The average profit of 135 Chinese mainland (including Hong Kong) companies on the list was about $3.54 billion. 

Overall, the operating income of the world's top 500 companies on the list was about $31.7 trillion, down 5 percent from last year, and the total net profit was $1.6 trillion, down 20 percent year-on-year, the biggest drop since 2009.

US tech giant Apple netted $57 billion in profits, and is the Fortune Global 500's most profitable company.