Shanghai inks US$7b worth of foreign projects

Source: Xinhua | 2019-05-31

A NEW batch of 38 foreign-funded projects was signed in Shanghai yesterday with a total investment value of 49.2 billion yuan (US$7.26 billion).

These 38 foreign-funded projects cover various fields including real estate, insurance, silicon industry, food, cosmetics, automobiles, securities, biomedicine and retail.

The foreign companies are from countries and regions such as the United States, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan.

German chemical company BASF SE has signed a deal to invest 3 billion yuan to upgrade its BASF innovation center to enhance its service for customers in the automobile and chemical new materials industries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey’s, which is one of the world’s largest chocolate manufacturers, will invest about US$200 million to expand its business in China.

JP Morgan will invest 800 million yuan to set up the first foreign-controlled securities company in China, while Germany’s Allianz Insurance will invest 10 billion yuan for the establishment of China’s first fully owned foreign insurance holding company.

Steady growth

So far this year, the number of new foreign capital projects, the contracted value of foreign capital and the actual foreign capital have shown double-digit growth, according to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.

From January to April, 2,051 foreign investment projects were launched, a rise of 52.3 percent from a year earlier.

The contract value of foreign investment totaled US$17.586 billion, up 21.3 percent year on year, while the actual foreign investment value added up to US$6.21 billion, an increase of 20.5 percent from the same period last year.

The commission highlighted the robust growth of foreign investment in business services, commerce and trade and high-tech services.

In the first four months this year, foreign investment in the service sector totaled US$5.768 billion, up 19.5 percent year on year and accounting for 92.9 percent of overall actual foreign investment.

Among them, business services and the trade sector posted steady growth with foreign investment in real terms reaching US$2.337 billion and US$607 million, respectively, up 9.1 percent and 11.6 percent year on year.

The high-tech service sector also grew at a fast pace, of which the foreign investment reached US$1.025 billion, an increase of 30.6 percent.

Investment in education, medical care, culture and sports industries has also been on the rise since the beginning of this year, reaching a total of US$155 million to account for 2.7 percent of the foreign investment in the service sector.

From January to April, 13 regional headquarters, seven Asia-Pacific headquarters and six research and development centers were set up in Shanghai.

By the end of April, Shanghai boasted 683 regional headquarters, 95 Asia-Pacific regional headquarters and 447 R&D centers.

Hong Kong’s investment jumped 31.6 percent in first four months this year from a year earlier to US$4.217 billion, while Japan has invested US$396 million, a three-fold increase on the figure for the same period last year.

Foreign investment countries along the Belt and Road totaled US$249 million, down 32.8 percent year on year.