Foreign investment in China up 2.35%

Foreign direct investment in China rose 2.35% in November relative to the same month of 2012 to $8.48 billion, the commerce ministry said Wednesday.

It marked the 10th consecutive month in which FDI inflows into China increased compared to last year. FDI for the January-November period climbed to $105.5 billion, up 5.48% from the same period of 2012.

A total of 20,434 companies were established in China during those 11 months, down 9.19% from 2012.

FDI from the European Union surged 17.36 percent to $6.82 billion in the year's first 11 months, while investment from the US rose 8.6% to $3.16 billion and FDI from Japan climbed 2.29% to $6.76 billion, the ministry said.

Foreign direct investment in the services industry - which receives 51.4% of all FDI inflows into China - rose 14.04% to $54.25 billion between January and November, while the flow of FDI to the manufacturing sector declined by 5.71% to $41.46 billion.

Separately, Chinese direct investment abroad in the first 11 months of the year climbed to $80.24 billion, up 28.3% from January-November 2012.