Data: Steady growth in mainland FDI

Foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland saw steady growth in the first eight months this year amid the country’s unwavering opening-up efforts, official data showed yesterday.

FDI expanded 6.9 percent year on year to 604 billion yuan (US$85.22 billion) in the January-August period, the Ministry of Commerce said.

In US dollar terms, FDI inflow grew 3.2 percent year on year to US$89.26 billion.

In August alone, FDI reached 70.89 billion yuan, up 3.6 percent year on year.

The steady rise came despite mounting global economic uncertainties, which analysts said might push multinationals to make investment decisions more carefully.

A closer look at the data showed that foreign firms remained bullish on the Chinese market, especially in high-tech sectors.

During the past eight months, a total of 27,704 new foreign-funded enterprises were established, with investment in high-tech industries surging 39.3 percent annually to 174.8 billion yuan, accounting for 28.9 percent of the total FDI.

“For us, China is not simply a large-scale consumer market, but also an important source of innovation as well as a major element of the industrial value chain,” Jochen Goller, president & CEO of BMW Group Region China, told a forum held over the weekend in Beijing.

In the first seven months of this year, BMW saw car sales up 16.6 percent year on year to some 404,000 units in the highly-competitive Chinese market.

“This strong performance is reinforcing our confidence to further grow with China, and as a result, BMW is taking decisive actions to significantly increase our investment as well as to enlarge our footprint,” Goller said.

The data showed that China’s pilot free trade zones saw FDI inflow up 23.3 percent YoY to 86.6 billion yuan in the first eight months, accounting for 14.3 percent of the total.

The country’s continued opening-up has attracted investors from a wider range of countries. Foreign investment from South Korea surged 45.3 percent annually in the first eight months, while FDI from the countries along the Belt and Road maintained steady growth of 6.3 percent, according to the ministry.