The actual utilization of foreign investment in Ningbo hit $3.274 billion in 2021, ranking second in East China's Zhejiang province.

The figure represented a year-on-year increase of 32.7 percent, 16.5 and 12.5 percentage points higher than the provincial average and the national average respectively, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.

Last year, 564 foreign-funded companies were set up in Ningbo, 78 more than the previous year, while their accumulated investment value amounted to $12.93 billion, an uptick of 3.3 percent year-on-year.

The city's contractual foreign investment totaled $8.64 billion, rising by 83.9 percent year-on-year.

In the past year, five Fortune Global 500 companies including LyondellBasell, Costco, General Electric and Volvo set up six projects with a combined investment value of $1.63 billion.

The actual utilization of foreign capital in the Chinese mainland last year rose by 20.2 percent to $173.48 billion, official statistics from the ministry show.

The actual use of foreign investment in Zhejiang in 2021 amounted to $18.34 billion, up 16.2 percent year-on-year.

Yang Jian, a professor at Ningbo University of Technology, pointed out that China is becoming increasingly attractive to foreign investment because of its stable political environment, huge consumer market, mature labor force, sound infrastructure, efficient industrial chain and growing innovation capabilities.