China January-October outbound direct investment surges

China made around 589.2 billion yuan (about $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, Xinhua quoted the ministry of commerce as saying.

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 January-October period, said Jiang Wenbin, deputy head of the ministry's Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation.

The projects covered fields like 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.

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at improving international connections via building transport networks, contributed a lot to the ODI surge, Jiang said.

In the first 10 months, direct outbound investment in 49 nations along the Belt and Road totalled $13.17 billion, up 36.7 percent year on year.

The investment was mostly made in Singapore, Kazakhstan, Laos, Indonesia and Russia.

Meanwhile, new foreign-contracted projects in 60 countries along the route rose to $64.55 billion, up 21.6 percent from last year and accounting for 43.3 percent of the country's total projects in overseas market.

Companies' rising desire to expand overseas as domestic profits wane, and a reduction in administrative approvals, among others, have combined to make China the world's top capital exporter, Jiang added.

The country became a net capital exporter for the first time last year, when ODI surpassed foreign direct investment (FDI).

ODI grew 14.1 percent in 2014, eclipsing the 1.7-percent growth recorded for FDI.