High-end manufacturing industry and service sector trigger 11.1% increase in first four months

Foreign direct investment into China from non-financial companies increased by 11.1 percent to $44.49 billion in the first four months of the year compared with the same period in 2014.

This helped boost the high-end manufacturing industry and the service sector in the world's second-largest economy, data released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Commerce revealed.

Between January and April, the number of newly registered foreign-funded companies jumped by 17 percent to 7,790 compared with the same period last year.

A total of 2,262 foreign companies closed their business operations in China during that period and 746 international firms trimmed their investment in the country. These were drops of 14.5 percent and 26 percent respectively on a year-on-year basis.

But Tang Wenhong, director-general of the ministry's department of foreign investment administration, said there was no sign that multinational businesses were pulling out of China.

"With an improved legal environment, a fair market competition mechanism, advanced industrial support capability and vast market demand, China's ability to attract foreign investment remains competitive," Tang said.

His comments came after foreign companies such as Microsoft, Panasonic and Sharp decided to close or scale back their operations in China to develop other markets.

Even so, modern service industry FDI reached $28.14 billion in the first four months, up by 24.8 percent year-on-year. This accounted for 63.2 percent of the nation's total FDI between January and April.

In the high-end industries such as telecommunication and transportation equipment, FDI growth climbed by 9.9 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.

Global companies, including Germany's Volkswagen AG and Robert Bosch GmBH, have increased their investment in China, as have Air Products and Chemicals Inc of United States, and Switzerland's Roche Holding AG.

Foxconn Technology Group, which is Apple's largest supplier, and the Taiwan-based technology company HTC Corp have also increased investment in the Chinese mainland.

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