BEIJING, March 20 -- A total of 8,631 new foreign-invested firms were established across China in the first two months of the year, marking an increase of 14 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

During the same period, actual use of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland totaled 161.45 billion yuan (23.43 billion U.S. dollars), down 5.7 percent year on year.

In terms of sectors, FDI inflows reached 47.52 billion yuan in the manufacturing sector and 111.22 billion yuan in the service sector.

High-tech industries attracted 63.21 billion yuan in FDI during the period, up 20.4 percent year on year and accounting for 39.2 percent of the national total FDI.

In terms of source countries, actual investment in China from Canada and Switzerland surged 210 percent and 41.3 percent year on year, respectively.