BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- China received 5.36 billion U.S. dollars of foreign direct investment (FDI) in July, down 35.7 percent year on year, said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian on Monday.

    China's total export-import volume between January and July decreased by 22.7 percent year on year to 1146.71 billion U.S. dollars. Imports and exports volume for July amounted to 200 billion U.S. dollars, illustrating the falling off in foreign trade, Yao said.

    The amount of direct Taiwanese investment in the Chinese mainland totalled one billion U.S. dollars in the first half of the year, down 14.94 percent year on year, and the trade volume between the two shrank 35.1 percent to 52.53 billion U.S. dollars in the same period, he said.