16/6/2011;ChinaDaily.com

Manufacturing facilities to move from areas hit by quake, tsunami

BEIJING - Japanese investment in China is set to surge as it transfers manufacturing bases from areas damaged by the March earthquake and tsunami, boosting China's foreign direct investment (FDI), the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

To aid Japan's economic recovery, China plans to "send trade and investment delegations to the country in the coming months, and increase imports from Japan", Yao Jian, ministry spokesperson, said.

Yao was speaking at a monthly news conference during which the ministry announced China's FDI figures for the past five months.

FDI rose 13.43 percent year-on-year in May to $9.23 billion, the lowest increase this year, compared with 15.21 percent in April.

But it surged 23.4 percent, from January to May, to $48 billion, with 10,543 foreign entities setting up in China.

The country's non-financial outbound investment grew 42.3 percent year-on-year to $20.4 billion in the first five months.

"With China's investment environment improving, we expect the FDI will increase further this year," Yao said, while admitting that rising costs could hamper FDI growth.

Following the March earthquake many Japanese companies will move their manufacturing facilities to China, Yao said.