TAIPEI -- Taiwan approved 191 investment projects to the mainland in the first half of this year, down 5.91 percent year on year, but the total investment volume rose by 19.06 percent to nearly $1.8 billion, data from the island's economic affairs department has shown.

The provinces of Jiangsu and Guangdong and the Shanghai Municipality were popular investment destinations on the mainland, while the wholesale and retail industry attracted the most investment from Taiwan, followed by professional, scientific and technical services and mechanical equipment manufacturing, said the department.

In the same period, the department approved 29 investment projects from the Chinese mainland on the island in the first six months, a year-on-year increase of 45 percent, while the investment volume dropped 36.4 percent year on year to $17.03 million, the data showed.

Mainland investment in Taiwan mainly flowed into the wholesale and retail industry, followed by the electronic component manufacturing industry and the banking industry, according to the department.