Beijing Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee revealed that the export volume of foreign-funded firms hit US$823 million for the January through March period, a rise of 57.7 percent over that in the same period last year.

It made up 72.3 percent of the city's export volume, totalling US$1.137 billion, which was 35.5 percent higher than the volume in the first quarter of last year.

Sun Yao, vice-director with the planning and finance department of the committee, said it is due to the strong power of the multinational enterprises and the participation of newly approved foreign companies.

The top five exporters in the first three months, including Nokia, Ericsson, Beijing Oriental Electronics, JVC and Mitsubishi-Stone, were all foreign-funded companies.

Official statistics showed that the municipal government has approved another 266 foreign-funded firms in the first three months of this year.

The new foreign companies have brought US$630 million in contracted investment to Beijing, doubling the figure of the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, the existing foreign enterprises pledged to expand their investment by US$420 million, up 73.9 percent from their original investment.

The investment rise was attributed to the improvement of the investing environment in the capital city and the increase in confidence among foreign investors.

By the end of March, 16,148 overseas companies have established themselves in Beijing with contracted and actual investment standing at US$33.17 billion and US$22.08 billion, respectively.

(China Daily 04/24/2001)