China signed 8692 registered import technology contracts between January and October this year, with the total contract value amounting to US$18.74 billion, an increase of 37.1 percent over the same period of last year. Of this amount, the actual technology fee is US$12.29 billion, 65.6 percent of the value of the contract. The amount China is paying for technology continues to increase by a significant margin.

These contracts for technology import included 5.97 billion dollars worth of contracts for the technology license, an increase of 57.9 percent year on year and making up 31.8 percent of the total contract value. It is followed by contracts for technological consultation and services as well as those for joint ventures or cooperative production, including technology imports, which made up 22.7 and 20.1 percent of the total contractual value respectively.

The European Union is China's biggest source of technology imports, making up 41.5 percent of the total contracts. Japan and the US have a 24.4 percent and 16.6 percent market share to be in second and third position.

During the first ten months, foreign companies spent $9.2 billion on overseas technology, an increase of 44.2 percent from last year; domestic companies spent $8.19 billion, an increase of 39.6 percent.

The railway industry is still the largest and fastest growing importer of technology. Between January and October, the industry signed contracts valued at $3.98 billion, 3.6 times more than last year. The manufacturing industry for electronics and communication equipment signed 1290 technology contracts valued at $3.7 billion

By People's Daily Online