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 on 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)