Tianjin's Overseas-Funded Enterprises Increase Profits

TIANJIN, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Overseas-funded enterprises in northern China's Tianjin Municipality recorded a total profits of 3.727 billion yuan (449 million US dollars) in the first half of this year, up 19 percent over the same period of last year.

According to statistics released recently by the Tianjin Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, over 4,200 such enterprises in the municipality reported an 11 percent increase in their sales income, which amounted to 48 billion yuan in the first six months.

Exports of these overseas-funded enterprises also increased 23 percent to 2.15 billion US dollars in the period. They accounted for 70 percent of the city's total exports, the statistics show.

The increases in both profits and exports, which were achieved against the backdrop of a weak domestic demand and continuous drop of price index, show that most foreign-funded enterprises enjoy a larger space to develop themselves in China, local trade officials said.

The rise in profits also prompted the enterprises to expand their investments in the first six months, the officials said. A total of 78 enterprises increased their investments by 340 million US dollars, increasing 4.4 million U.S. dollars each on the average and 57 percent over the same period of last year.