China had 5.5 billion US dollars of net overseas investment in 2004, a year-on-year increase of 93 percent, according to statistics issued by the Ministry of Commerce Thursday.

The figure has excluded 30 million dollars of investment back into China from overseas companies with China's foreign direct investment (FDI).

The Ministry of Commerce and the National Bureau of Statistics jointly released China's foreign direct investment statistics of non-financial sectors for 2004. Companies from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan were not included.

According to the statistics, China's overseas investment added up to a total of 44.9 billion dollars as of 2004, with 100 million dollars of investment coming back into China from overseas companies with China's FDI excluded.

China's FDI accounted for 0.9 percent of global influx and outflow of FDI, and 0.55 percent of total global FDI.

China's FDI in 2004 expanded its scale of investment, and about half of its revenue was reinvested.

Over half of China's overseas investment went to Asia, Hong Kong being a hot land of investment.

China's overseas investment covered various sectors, with 32.7 percent in the mining industry, 15.1 percent in transportation and storage sectors, 14.5 percent in wholesaling and retailing, 13.8 percent in manufacturing, and 13.6 percent in business services.

Source: Xinhua