China reported about 11,000 new foreign-invested companies in the first quarter, down about 41 percent from the same period last year, said the State Administration for Industry and Commerce Tuesday.

Investment from the new foreign-invested companies totaled US$26.68 billion in the first quarter, down about 46 percent from the same period last year, the administration said.

Registered capital of the new foreign-invested companies totaled US$16.80 billion from January to March, down about 49 percent from the same period last year.

China has about 433,900 foreign-invested companies as of the end of March, down 0.23 percent from the end of last year, the administration said.

Investment from the foreign-invested companies in China totaled US$2.35 trillion, about 1.23 percent up from December 2008, the administration said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2009)