On August 17, the head of the Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation of Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China released China’s foreign investment and cooperation information from January to July 2018.
From January to July 2018, Chinese domestic investors have made non-financial direct investment into 3,999 overseas enterprises in 152 countries and regions, with a total investment volume of $65.27 billion, up 14.1% year-on-year. The turnover of foreign contract projects was $83.83 billion, up 8.1% year-on-year. New contracts were worth $125.24 billion, down 7.4% from a year earlier. China sent 266,000 personnel of various types overseas in cooperation with foreign countries. At the end of July, there were 996, 000 workers overseas, an increase of 40, 000 over the same period last year.
In the first seven months, Chinese outward investment and cooperation maintained the stable and healthy state, with a trend of high-quality growth on the whole as expected. It has the following main features.
First, actively promote investment and cooperation among countries along the “One Belt And One Road” line. From January to July, Chinese enterprises made new investment in 54 countries along the “One Belt And One Road” line, totaling $8.55 billion, up 11.8% year-on-year. Newly signed foreign contract amount in countries along “One Belt And One Road” reached $57.11 billion, accounting for 45.6% of the total for the same period. Turnover was $45.08 billion, or 53.8% of the total for the same period.
Second, the business structure of the outward investment has been continuously optimized, and irrational investment has been effectively curbed. From January to July, outward investment mainly went to leasing and business services, manufacturing, mining, wholesale and retail sectors, accounting for 32.5%, 15.8%, 11% and 9.6% respectively. There were no new projects in the real estate, sports and entertainment industries.
Third, newly signed foreign contract projects were mostly large-scale and concentrated in sector, significantly promoting the exports. From January to July, new contracts for foreign projects mainly focus on the transportation, power engineering and construction industries, accounting for 68.2% of the total newly signed contract amount. There were 418 new projects with the contract value of over $50 million, totaling $106.74 billion, accounted for 85.2% of the total newly signed contract amount. Foreign contract projects led to $10.36 billion exporting, up 22.5% year-on-year.
In the first seven months, 4,987 outward investment enterprises were registered or approved by relevant authorities, with $80.98 billion contracted investment volume from China. Among them, 4,961 non-financial outward investment enterprises have been registered or approved, with $75.25 billion contracted investment volume from China. 26 financial outward investment enterprises have been registered or approved, with $5.72 billion contracted investment volume from China.
From January to July 2018, China’s outward investment activity index was between 189.6 and 205.3, which was in a relatively active range and kept stable overall, according to the macro monitoring by Ministry of Commerce. The index of outward investment activity in July was 192.93.
Source: Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China
