BEIJING, Sept. 16 -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland continue to drop in August, down 14 percent from a year earlier to 7.2 billion U.S. dollars, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

The data followed a 17-percent slump seen in July as investors grew more cautious over the softening strength in the world's second largest economy.

For the first eight months, the FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, stood at 78.34 billion U.S. dollars, down 1.8 percent from the same period last year, the ministry said.