BEIJING - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland rose 1.3 percent in October from a year earlier to $8.53 billion, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Tuesday.

The rate of growth was lower than the 1.9 percent growth in September, after a 14 percent slump in August.

For the first ten months, the FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, totaled $95.9 billion, down 1.2 percent from the same period last year. The decline is less than the 1.4 percent fall registered in the first nine months and 1.8 percent drop posted for the first eight.

Among the ten major investors, FDI from the Republic of Korea increased 26.4 percent year on year in the first ten months while that from Britain expanded 32.4 percent.

In contrast, investment from Japan plunged 42.9 percent and that from the United States 23.8 percent. That of the European Union was down 16.2 percent.

MOC spokesman Shen Danyang attributed the declines to restructuring of China's manufacturing industry that used to attract the majority of this kind of investment.

FDI into the manufacturing sector in the January-October period declined 15.1 percent year on year to $32.5 billion. The service sector attracted $53.1 billion, up 6.6 percent.

Outbound direct investment by non-financial firms rose 17.8 percent in the first ten months to $81.9 billion.

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