BEIJING - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland saw rapid growth in the first half (H1) of this year amid a string of government policies to improve the business environment, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

China's 21 pilot free trade zones, covering less than 0.4% of the country's land area, attracted nearly 17% of the total FDI in H1

FDI into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, surged 28.7 percent year on year to a record high of 607.8 billion yuan in H1. In US dollar terms, FDI jumped 33.9 percent year on year to 91 billion dollars, said Zong Changqing, an official with the ministry.

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The growth pace was the highest in almost 10 years in both yuan and US dollar terms, Zong noted.

"China's FDI growth in H1 beat market expectations, laying a solid foundation for achieving the country's goal of keeping foreign investment stable for the whole year," Zong told a press conference.

In H1, 23,000 foreign-invested companies were set up, a year-on-year increase of 47.9 percent, bringing the total number of foreign-invested firms to over 1.06 million, data from the ministry showed.

The country's 21 pilot free trade zones, covering less than 0.4 percent of the country's land area, attracted nearly 17 percent of the total FDI in H1.

Foreign capital flocked into China's high-tech industries, with FDI into the high-tech manufacturing sector surging 29.2 percent and that into the high-tech service sector jumping 42.7 percent, the data showed. 

The number of big foreign investment projects with contract values over 100 million dollars increased 81.3 percent year on year to reach 602.

China has rolled out a string of policies this year to keep foreign investment stable, introducing financing support and tax incentives for foreign firms while expanding pilot opening-up programs.

The country also hosted various trade and investment exhibitions to facilitate business exchanges and organized events to address the concerns of foreign companies.

Non-financial ODI down 3.7%

China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) decreased 3.7 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, official data showed on Thursday.

China's ODI amounted to 348.8 billion yuan during the period. In US dollar terms, ODI increased 4.7 percent to 53.9 billion dollars, according to the ministry.

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Bucking the overall decline, non-financial direct investment into countries along the Belt and Road increased 8.6 percent year-on-year in the first half, accounting for 17.8 percent of total ODI, data from the ministry shows.

Investment into the information technology and scientific research services sectors jumped 26.8 percent and 74.2 percent, respectively, while investment into the transportation sector almost doubled.

At the end of the first half of 2021, investment into overseas economic and trade cooperation zones totaled US$47 billion, contributing a combined US$6 billion in taxes and fees to investment destinations and creating 380,000 local jobs, the data shows.