Foreign direct investment in China fell in March, the first year-on-year contraction since January 2013, but officials and experts said monthly fluctuations do not reflect long-term trends.

According to the Ministry of Commerce's data on Thursday, FDI in China dipped 1.47 percent in March from a year earlier to $12.24 billion. The drop dragged FDI growth in the first quarter to 5.5 percent, amounting to $31.55 billion. By comparison, FDI grew 10.44 percent in the first two months.

"It is normal for investments to have some monthly fluctuations," said Shen Danyang, a ministry spokesman. "Many factors, such as a single big-ticket investment deal, a changing macroeconomic environment and the fluctuation of the renminbi exchange rate could all affect the figures. We are confident about the steady growth in FDI for the whole year. We, along with many other research institutes and foreign chambers of commerce, think China remains an important destination for foreign investment. Multinationals remain upbeat about our investment environment."