On July 17, the chief official of MOFCOM Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation made a statement on China’s outward investment cooperation in the first half of 2018.

In the first half of 2018, the homeland investors’ non-financial FDI in 3,617 overseas enterprises from 151 countries and regions amounted to US$57.18 billion, up 18.7% year on year. The turnover of the overseas contracted projects amounted to US$72.76 billion, up 8.1% year on year, and the total value of the newly signed contracts was US$106.74 billion, down 13.8% year on year. The number of the labor service personnel dispatched overseas reached 218,000. At the end of June, the labor service personnel dispatched overseas amounted to 996,000, increasing by 78,000 over the same period last year.

The chief official pointed out that the outward investment cooperation in the first half of 2018 maintained its stable and sound development, mainly showing the following features:

1. The investment in the countries along the Belt and Road routes and the cooperation with them were promoted steadily. In the first half of 2018, the new investment amount in 55 countries along the Belt and Road routes reached up to US$7.4 billion, with an increase of 12% year on year. The total value of the newly signed contractual projects in countries along the Belt and Road routes amounted to US$47.79 billion, taking up 44.8% of China’s total value of overseas contractual projects over the same period of time; the turnover was US$38.95 billion, taking up 53.5% of the total amount in the same period. 82 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones are constructed in 24 countries along the Belt and Road routes with the new investment amount reaching US$2.59 billion, taking up 87% of the total new investment in China’s overseas economic and trade cooperation zones; the taxes paid to the host countries reached US$0.3 billion, taking up 71.4%.

2. The way of outward investment showed innovation and cross-border mergers and acquisitions became the main means. In the first half of 2018, different kinds of forms such as green field investment, M&A, joint investment, physical investment, equity replacement and round-tripping capital have emerged. Among these, in terms of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, relevant enterprises conducted 140 mergers and acquisitions, covering 16 industries over 41 countries and regions, and the actual transaction value reached US$26.11 billion, mainly from manufacturing industry and mining industry.

3. The structure of outward investment industries was constantly optimized and the irrational investment was effectively restrained. In the first half of 2018, the outward investment mainly flew to lease and commercial service industry, manufacturing, mining industry and wholesale and retail industry, taking up 32.6%, 15.8%, 11.5% and 9.5% respectively. No new projects were added in real estate, sports and entertainment areas.

4. The construction of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones had remarkable achievements, promoting the common development of China and the host countries. By the first half of 2018, 113 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones had taken shape in 46 countries with a total investment of US$34.87 billion, attracting 4,542 enterprises to enter into the zone, paying the taxes of US$2.86 billion to the host countries and creating 287,000 jobs in the local regions.

5. There are many newly signed big contractual foreign projects, obviously pulling up the export. In the first half of 2018, the value of 356 overseas contractual projects was over US$50 million, adding up to US$90.55 billion, accounting for 84.8% of the total value of the newly signed contracts. The exported goods pulled up by contractual projects amounted to US$8.99 billion, up 23.1% year on year.

In the first half of 2018, the relevant administrative departments filed and checked 3,743 overseas investment enterprises, and the amount of China’s contracted foreign investment reached US$68.25 billion. Among these, 3,719 non-financial foreign investment enterprises were filed or checked, and China’s contracted foreign investment reached US$63.27 billion; 24 financial foreign investment enterprises were filed or checked, and China’s contracted foreign investment reached US$4.98 billion. MOFCOM’s macro monitoring showed that China’s outward investment was in the relatively active section in general in the first half of 2018.