Foreign funds China actually used in its catering industry totaled US$950,000 in the first five months this year, a year-on-year drop of 36 percent, the Beijing-based Economic Information Daily said on Thursday, quoting a report released by the Ministry of Commerce.

 During the period, 314 foreign-funded catering enterprises were set up, an decrease of 6.55 percent compared with the same period last year, although the foreign funds under contractual use amounted to 346 million US dollars, up 22.62 percent.

Meanwhile, the report also said the industry achieved 334.63 billion yuan (about US$40 billion) in retail sales in January-May period, a net increase of 50.72 billion yuan (US$6.13 billion), or up 17.9 percent, over the corresponding period of 2004.

In May, the volume of retail sales stood at 66.37 billion yuan (some US$8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 19.5 percent, or 7 percent higher than April. But the growth was 27.7 percentage points lower than that in May last year.

The report predicted that the industry's retail sales will hit 40.36 billion yuan (US$4.88 billion) in the first half of 2005, a rise of 18 percent over the same period of 2004. 

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)