South China's Guangzhou, capitalof Guangdong Province, used more than 2.4 billion US dollars of foreign investment in real terms in 2004, up 64.4 percent over 2003, the local statistics bureau said.

Manufacturing industry saw an increase of 280 percent in actualforeign investment last year. Foreign funds going into the automobile industry more than quadrupled, accounting for 11 percent of the total use of foreign investment, the bureau said.

In 2004, the city approved 160 large foreign-funded businesses,which absorbed 53 percent of contractual foreign investment, said Gao Dianying, director of the bureau.

Gao said foreign investors from more than 70 countries and regions have so far invested in 7,933 businesses in the city.

Statistics from the bureau show that 127 of the world's top 500companies have established businesses in Guangzhou.

Editor: Olivia