Shanghai contracted about US$10.72 billion of overseas investment from January to November 2004, up 9.18 percent, the Shanghai Overseas Investment Work Committee said Sunday.

Of this amount US$5.80 billion was honored by the end of November, a 14.2 percent from the same period of the previous year.

Shanghai-based overseas-funded companies reported 934.1 billion yuan (US$112.5 billion) of sales and earned 61.63 billion yuan (US$7.43 billion) of profits in the January-November period, up 31.3 percent and 56.5 percent, respectively, year on year.

These companies added about US$4.05 billion of investment in the 11 months, accounting for 37.8 percent of the total contracted overseas investment in the same period.

Some 4.2 billion US dollars of foreign investment went to the service sector, accounting for 39.16 percent of the total.

Of the foreign-funded projects approved in the 11 months in Shanghai, there were 30 regional headquarters of multinationals, 14 investment companies and 34 research and development centers, according to the committee.

The total number of such foreign-funded institutions in Shanghai stood at 86,105 and 140 respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2005)