The used amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China dropped 35.7 percent year on year to US$5.36 billion in July, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, on Monday.

China's total export-import volume between January and July decreased by 22.7 percent year on year to US$1146.71 billion. Imports and exports volume for July amounted to US$200 billion, illustrating the falling off in foreign trade, Yao said.

The amount of direct Taiwanese investment in the Chinese mainland totalled US$1 billion in the first half of the year, down 14.94 percent year on year, and the trade volume between the two shrank 35.1 percent to US$52.53 billion in the same period, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2009)