China signed technology import contracts in the first ten months of the year worth 18.7 billion U.S. dollars, 37.1 percent higher than the same period last year, said the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in Beijing Friday.

More than 12.2 billion dollars or 65.6 percent of the total were paid for access to technologies.

With 7.8 billion dollars worth of contracts, the European Union was the premier source of technology, followed by Japan and the U.S.

Contracts with Japan and the U.S. totaled 4.6 billion and 3.1 billion dollars respectively in the first ten months.

Technology imports by foreign-funded companies rose 44.2 percent year on year to 9.2 billion dollars and state-owned enterprises increased their imports by 39.6 percent to 8.2 billion dollars.

The railway sector was a stand-out, chalking up technology imports worth 3.98 billion dollars, 3.6 times more than last year.

Editor: Donald