BEIJING - China's overseas direct investment (ODI) in non-financial sectors reached $4.4 billion?in January, up 59.9 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Thursday.

The amount of investment calculated involved 355 overseas companies based in 87 countries and regions, said MOC spokesman Shen Danyang.

Business volume in overseas-contracted projects in January hit $5.87 billion, up 38.4 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the value of new contracts signed fell 10.2 percent to $9.33 billion, Shen said at a press conference held in Beijing.

As of the end of January, 811,000 Chinese were working in these investment projects abroad. The number was down 30,000 from the same period last year.