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, 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 Taiwan investment in the Chinese mainland totalled one billion U.S. dollars 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)