BEIJING - Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland dropped 9.2 percent year on year in January 2017 on high comparison base and holiday factors, new data showed Thursday.

FDI inflow stood at 80.1 billion yuan ($12 billion) last month, lower than 81.42 billion yuan in December 2016, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement.

The drop was mainly due to high base figure in the same month of 2016, MOC spokesman Sun Jiwen said at a press conference.

"Meanwhile, Spring Festival holiday factors also led to the decline," Sun said. Spring Festival, China's Lunar New Year, fell in January this year but was in February last year.