BEIJING - China's overseas direct investment (ODI) in non-financial sectors in 130 countries and regions reached $50.01 billion in the first 11 months of this year, up 5.2 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Thursday.

The nation's cumulative ODI in non-financial sectors totaled $312 billion?as of the end of November, MOC Spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press conference held in Beijing.

Shen said that 74.4 percent of the investment went to China's Hong Kong, the ASEAN, the EU, and countries including Australia, the United States, Russia and Japan.

Business volume in overseas-contracted projects during the first 11 months hit $86.3 billion, up 16.2 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the value of new contracts signed rose 3.5 percent to $114.12 billion, Shen said.

As of the end of last month, 822,000 Chinese were working in these investment projects abroad. The number was down 17,000 from the same period last year.