China outbound direct investment surges in Jan - Oct

BEIJING -- The Chinese mainland made around 589.2 billion yuan ($95.21 billion) in non-financial investment in overseas markets in the first ten months of 2015, up 16.3 percent year-on- year, the latest data showed on Monday.

Outbound direct investment (ODI) in the period covered 5,553 overseas-based companies in 152 countries and regions, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said.

The number of foreign-contracted projects worth more than $100 million increased to 307, up by 39 from last year, with the total contract amount reaching $108.3 billion in the Jan - Oct period, said Jiang Wenbin, deputy head of the MOC Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation.

The projects covered a wide range of fields including transportation, housing construction, electric power engineering, telecommunication and petrochemical industries, Jiang said.

During the period, Chinese investors spent around $9.94 billion in developing manufacturing industries in overseas markets, up 82.8 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

The manufacturing investment mainly went to automobiles, medicine, computers, communication devices, rubber and plastic products, Jiang said.