BEIJING, Sept. 14 -- A total of 36,968 new foreign-invested firms were established across China in the first eight months of 2024, marking an increase of 11.5 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.

During this period, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, totaled 580.2 billion yuan (about 81.7 billion U.S. dollars), down 31.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the ministry.

The hi-tech manufacturing sector attracted 12.4 percent, or 72.1 billion yuan, of the total FDI inflow, up 1.9 percentage points from the same period last year.

Notably, FDI inflows into medical equipment manufacturing and instrument and meter manufacturing surged 77.8 percent, while inflows into computer and office device manufacturing grew by 33.9 percent during this period.

In terms of source countries, FDI from Singapore and Germany increased by 11.6 percent and 5.4 percent year on year, respectively, data from the ministry showed.