Most U.S. companies in China will invest more in the world’s second-largest economy this year but the pace of increase will slow, according to a survey of 390 members of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in China. 78% of respondents still listed China as one of the world’s top three investment spots. The survey found that 82% of respondents said they plan to expand investment in their China operations this year, about the same as last year’s level. “China remains an important profit center for multinational companies, relative to other regions of the world,” AmCham said. The survey also found that foreign firms continue to face irregular licensing practices, poorly-enforced intellectual property rights and a limited talent pool. Ted Dean, Chairman of AmCham China, said some members have complained that regulations failed to keep pace in some key areas.

The Coca-Cola Co opened its largest bottling plant in China in Liaoning province, greatly improving its distribution capabilities. The Yingkou operation is Coca-Cola’s 42nd bottling plant in China. It has an area of more than 170,000 square meters and involves an investment of USD160 million. The new bottling plant is expected to reach an annual production capacity of more than 5 billion servings of sparkling and still beverages, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Minute Maid and Ice Dew, the company said. “This new investment in Yingkou is also aligned with the government’s call to develop the Bohai Bay Economic Zone areas and to strengthen our distribution system, especially among second- and third-tier cities,” said Martin Jansen, CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group China and regional director of Coca-Cola Bottling Investments Group China-Singapore-Malaysia. Since re-entering the Chinese mainland in 1979, the company has invested more than USD5 billion in the local market. China is Coca-Cola’s third largest market in the world after the United States and Mexico. Its sales volume expanded by 13% in 2011, maintaining double-digit growth for nine years in the past decade. The consumption of Coca-Cola products in China now makes up about 8% of the company’s global volume. Coca-Cola competitor PepsiCo in November agreed to sell its interest in 24 soft drink bottlers in China to Hong Kong-listed Tingyi Holdings Corp, and last week received approval from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to go ahead with the transaction, the China Daily reports.

Shanghai attracted USD1.45 billion in contracted foreign investment in February, up 29.3% from a year earlier, defying the national trend of falling investments from overseas. Officials attributed it to capital flowing into the services sector, especially for the Shanghai Disneyland project. The pace weakened slightly from the city’s average of 31.1% last year. The number of new foreign projects in Shanghai fell 19.4% year on year to 175, but projects were more capital-intensive. Last month, USD1.27 billion, or nearly 90% of the total contracted FDI in Shanghai, was pumped into the city’s services sector, up 25.2% from a year earlier. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), investment from the United States increased in both January and February, a sharp change from last year’s drop of 26%. Construction of the core facilities of Shanghai Disneyland, including infrastructure of roads and pipelines, will start next month.

Chongqing’s new Communist Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang, who concurrently also serves as one of China’s Vice Premiers, vowed to maintain stability and continue the economic opening up in the municipality, seeking to reassure foreign investors who have been anxiously looking for signs of policy changes since he replaced Bo Xilai on March 15. Bo oversaw rapid economic growth in the municipality over the past few years with the help of Mayor Huang Qifan. Zhang made his name by the rapid development of the private economy in Zhejiang when he was Party Secretary of the province between 1998 and 2002. “Chongqing has achieved remarkable economic and social development since becoming a municipality [in 1997]. One valuable lesson we have learned is that we need to stick to reform and opening up,” Zhang told a delegation led by the Chairman of Taiwan’s Acer Group, Wang Jen-tang, at a technology expo. Chongqing’s economic output topped CNY1 trillion for the first time last year, up more than 16% year on year, together with Tianjin the fastest growth of any provincial-level administration. He Ting, former Director of the Qinghai Provincial Public Security Bureau, was appointed Chongqing Vice Mayor in charge of law and order.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China fell for the fourth straight month in February to USD7.73 billion, down 0.9% from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said. In the first two months of this year, FDI fell by 11.59%. The European Union invested USD906 million in China in the first two months, a drop of 33.3% from a year earlier. Input from American investors rose 0.87% to USD525 million, while investment from 10 Asian countries and regions, jumped an annualized 2.66% to USD15.3 billion. Foreign investment in China’s manufacturing sector lost 0.1% from a year earlier to USD8.3 billion in January and February, while that in the service industry fell 3.5% to USD8 billion. Meanwhile, China’s outbound non-financial foreign direct investment surged 41.1% year on year to USD7.4 billion in the first two months, up dramatically from last year’s 1.8% growth.