Chinanews.com, September 16th, the Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference on the 16th to introduce recent key work in the business field.

Speaking of the country’s absorption of foreign capital in the first August of this year, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce Shu Jueting said that from January to August 2021, the country’s actual use of foreign capital was 758.05 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.3% (equivalent to US$113.78 billion, a year-on-year increase). An increase of 27.8%; excluding banking, securities, and insurance, the same below).

Data map: Wharf in operation.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Lin Hao

　　From an industry perspective, the actual use of foreign capital in the service industry was 599.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.8%.

The actual use of foreign capital in the high-tech industry increased by 30.2%, of which the high-tech service industry increased by 35.2%, and the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 14.9%.

　　In terms of source, actual investment in countries along the “Belt and Road” and ASEAN increased by 37.6% and 36.8% year-on-year respectively (including investment data through free ports).

　　In terms of regional distribution, the actual use of foreign capital in my country's eastern, central, and western regions increased by 23%, 30.1%, and 1.6%, respectively.

　　Regarding my country's foreign investment and cooperation in the previous August, Shu Jueting pointed out that from January to August 2021, my country's foreign non-financial direct investment was 459.71 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.3% (equivalent to US$71.02 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%).

The turnover of foreign contracted projects was 597.58 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.1% (equivalent to 92.32 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16.1% year-on-year); the value of newly signed contracts was 899.41 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5% (equivalent to 138.95 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 2.9% year-on-year) ).

Mainly present the following characteristics:

　　First, positive progress has been made in investment cooperation with countries along the “Belt and Road”.

From January to August, China's non-financial direct investment in countries along the route was US$12.89 billion, an increase of 9.2% year-on-year, accounting for 18.1% of the total in the same period, an increase of 0.9 percentage points from the same period last year.

The contract value of newly signed projects in countries along the route was US$70.89 billion, and the completed turnover was US$53.44 billion, accounting for 51% and 57.9% of the total in the same period.

　　The second is the continuous growth of foreign investment in many fields.

From January to August, the flow to the wholesale and retail industry was US$11.42 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%; the information transmission/software and information technology service industry was US$5.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.2%.

Investments in scientific research and technical services, manufacturing, and transportation are also on the rise.

　　Third, local foreign investment accounted for nearly 80%.

From January to August, foreign non-financial direct investment by local enterprises was US$55.11 billion, an increase of 11.9% year-on-year, accounting for 77.6% of the total foreign investment in the same period.

Among them, the foreign investment of 10 provinces and cities in the eastern region was US$45.42 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%.

　　Fourth, the number of newly signed major projects for foreign contracted projects increased.

From January to August, there were 509 projects with newly signed contracts over US$50 million, an increase of 47 over the same period of the previous year, totaling US$118.43 billion, accounting for 85.2% of the total newly signed contracts, mainly in transportation and other fields.

　　In response to the situation of my country's consumer market in the first eight months, Shu Jueting said that due to factors such as the epidemic and flood conditions, the growth rate of the consumer market slowed down in August, but it still showed strong resilience.

In the same month, the total retail sales of consumer goods nationwide was 3.4 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%, and the growth rate dropped by 6 percentage points from the previous month and increased by 3% from the same period in 2019.

From January to August, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 28.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 18.1% year-on-year and an increase of 8% year-on-year.

Mainly have the following characteristics:

　　First, basic living consumption remained stable.

In August, the retail sales of grain, oil, food and beverages of units above designated size increased by 9.5% and 11.8% year-on-year respectively.

From January to August, among the online retail sales of physical goods, the sales of food products increased by 22.4% year-on-year.

　　The second is the rapid growth in sales of upgraded products.

In August, the retail sales of gold and silver jewelry, cultural and office supplies, and sports and entertainment products of units above designated size increased by 7.4%, 20.4%, and 22.7% year-on-year, respectively, while furniture and building materials increased by 6.7% and 13.5% respectively.

Some distribution companies, e-commerce platforms, green smart home appliances, and household products sales increased by more than 20%.

　　The third is the rapid development of new types of consumption.

From January to August, the online retail sales of physical goods was 6.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%, accounting for 23.6% of the total retail sales.

In August, 321,000 new energy vehicles were sold, an increase of 1.8 times year-on-year, a record high in a single month.

　　Fourth, consumer prices are generally stable. In August, consumer prices rose by 0.8% year-on-year and 0.1% month-on-month. In terms of structure, food prices fell 4.1% year-on-year, of which pork and fresh vegetables prices fell 44.9% and 1.5%, non-food prices rose 1.9%; consumer goods prices rose 0.3%, and service prices rose 1.5%. On average from January to August, consumer prices rose by 0.6% year-on-year.