From January to October 2015, foreign investment in China grew steadily, said the head of the foreign investment administration of the Ministry of Commerce.

During the ten-month period, a total of 21,022 foreign-invested enterprises were set up across the country, an annual increase of 9.3 percent. Utilized foreign investment in China reached 639.42 billion yuan ($100.34 billion), an annual increase of 8.6 percent.

In October alone, 2,042 foreign-invested enterprises were initiated in China, an annual growth of 2.5 percent, with utilized foreign investment reaching 54.68 billion yuan ($8.58 billion), an annual increase of 4.2 percent.

Service sector used more than half of total foreign investment

During the ten-month period, foreign investment in the service sector topped $63.42 billion, an annual growth of 19.4 percent and 61.2 percent of the total foreign investment.

The high-tech service sector saw a combined foreign investment of $6.76 billion, an annual growth of 57.5 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, foreign investment grew 86.5 percent in scientific study, 48.8 percent in information technology services, and 41.3 percent in development and design services.

Manufacturing saw uneven growth in sub-sectors

During the first ten months of 2015, the manufacturing sector's foreign investment reached $32.6 billion, an annual growth of 0.2 percent and 31.4 percent of total foreign investment.

Accounting for 23.3 percent of foreign investment in the manufacturing sector, high-tech manufacturing attracted foreign investment of $7.58 billion, an annual growth of 11.5 percent, which was much higher than the 0.2 percent average rate of the manufacturing sector as a whole.

Manufacturing of telecommunications equipment, electronics components and parts, and chemical medicines saw annual growth in foreign investment of 143.6 percent, 36.2 percent and 20.8 percent respectively.

Investment origins changing

During the first ten months in 2015, the growth rates of investment from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, and countries covered by China's Belt and Road Initiative were 10.8 percent, 13.7 percent and 14 percent respectively.

Over the same period, investment from Japan fell 25.1 percent while US investment fell 13.6 percent.

Free Trade Zones, a robust growth engine

The eastern regions of China saw a combined foreign investment of $88.41 billion in the first ten months of 2015, an annual growth of 10.1 percent, as reforms deepened in China's free trade zones.

A total of 9,859 foreign-invested enterprises were set up along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, an annual growth of 7.8 percent. These companies constituted 47 percent of newly-established foreign-invested enterprises in China.

Mergers and Acquisitions boomed

During the first ten months of 2015, 1,122 enterprises were established in China through mergers and acquisitions involving foreign capital, an annual growth of 16 percent.

By Liu Sitong and edited by Peter Nordlinger