China invests US$239b in energy and resource projects

This accounts for 71% of China's outbound direct investments from 2005 to 1H12.

Power- and resource-hungry China has invested a total of US$239 billion from 2005 to the first half of 2012 in energy and resource projects, accounting for 71% of the country's total ODI, said a report by Ernst & Young. China's ODI zoomed upwards from US$10 billion in 2005 to nearly US$73 billion in 2011, the report said.

The report revealed that 82% of China's ODI went to energy industries in 2009, but the proportion fell to 60 percent in the first half of this year. The drop was caused by an increase in outbound investments in agriculture and technology, which jumped to 17% in the first half from just 2%.

Chinese companies in the survey said they may take advantage of European economic woes by acquiring undervalued assets. Some 30% of companies polled said Western Europe was their top investment destination, while 22% saw the USA and Canada as the best places to invest.