In January-October 2015, the foreign investment in China maintained the sound momentum of the first three quarters. Official from the Department of Foreign Investment Administration of MOFCOM pointed out that the foreign investment in China in January-October took on the following characteristics:
Firstly, the overall scale of foreign investment in China maintained steady growth. In January-October, there were a total of 21,022 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises were approved nationwide, up 9.3% year on year; the actually utilized FDI registered RMB639.42 billion (equivalent to US$103.68 billion), going up 8.6% year on year. In October, a total of 2,042 newly-established foreign-invested enterprises were approved, up 2.5% year on year; the actually utilized FDI registered RMB54.68 billion (equivalent to US$8.77 billion), up 4.2% year on year.
Secondly, the industrial structures were further optimized. In January-October, the actually utilized FDI in service sector amounted to US$63.42 billion, up 19.4% year on year, taking up 61.2% of the national total. Among these, the actually utilized FDI in hi-tech service sector registered US$6.76 billion, up 57.5% year on year, in which science and technology research, information technology service, and R&D and design service stood out with a growth of 86.5%,48.8% and 41.3% respectively year on year. The actually utilized FDI in manufacturing registered US$32.6 billion, up 0.2% year on year, taking up 31.4% of the national total. Among these, the actually utilized FDI in hi-tech manufacturing amounted to US$7.58 billion, up 11.6% year on year, taking up 23.3% of the total manufacturing, and those in communications equipment manufacturing, electronic components manufacturing, and chemical products manufacturing increased 143.6%, 36.2% and 20.8% respectively year on year.
Thirdly, the major sources of foreign investment became diverse. In January-October, the investment from ASEAN, EU, countries along the “Belt and Road”, Hong Kong and Macao increased 10.8%, 13.7%, 14%, 12.6% and 68.9% respectively while those from Japan, US and Taiwan province decreased 25.1%, 13.6% and 19.3% respectively.
Fourthly, the pulling role that pilot free trade zones play stood out. With the constantly deepening of pilot free trade zones, in January-October, the actually utilized FDI in eastern China registered US$88.41 billion, going up 10.1% year on year. A total of 9,859 newly-established enterprises within Yangtze river economic belt zone were approved, up 7.8% year on year, taking up 47% of the national total.
Fifthly, the foreign M&A was active. Both the scale and percentage of foreign M&A was greatly improved. In January-October, the number of newly-established foreign-invested enterprises by M&A reached 1,122 and the actually utilized FDI registered US$15.98 billion, going up 16% and 176.9% respectively year on year. The percentage that M&A takes up among the national total of the actually utilized FDI in January-October has risen to 15.4% from 6%.