BEIJING—China's government-controlled television broadcaster criticized Starbucks Corp. for its prices in China, the latest attack by state media on a foreign company.

China Central Television, in a 20-minute broadcast called "Starbucks: Expensive in China," said the company charges as much as 50% more for some of its products in China than in the U.S., the U.K. and India. The report said the company's profit margin in China was excessive, as high as 32% in China and the Pacific region, compared with 21.1% in the U.S. and 1.9% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Starbucks said the figures didn't accurately represent the company's Chinese operations because they included financial results from other Asian-Pacific countries in addition to China. The Seattle-based company doesn't break out its financial information by country. The company "understands the concerns raised by recent Chinese media," Starbucks said.

Starbucks said its prices vary by market because of different costs, such as for labor, commodities, real estate and infrastructure investment.

In addition to citing domestic media and China-based experts, CCTV referred to a Wall Street Journal blog post in September that referred to consumer complaints about Starbucks's prices in China. The item attributed the higher cost of a Starbucks coffee in China to such factors as labor and ingredients. The post also noted that Chinese consumers' preferences for larger stores raised the company's real-estate costs.