In the first 11 months of this year,?a total of 60 of the Fortune 500 were granted approvals to make their first investments in Shandong Province, according to the statistics of the provincial department?of commerce.?

The number of approvals for such investments was up 87.5 percent over the same period of last year.

60 companies?include Nestle, TDK, with contracts totaling US$ 2.27 billion - 3.6 times the figure of the same period of last year.

The newly-entered industries include new energy, equipment manufacturing, telecoms and trade, according to the department.

Overall foreign direct investment in the province's service sector reached US$ 3.6 billion in the period, up 68.7 percent year-on-year; in equipment manufacturing US$ 2.16 billion, up 29.5 percent; in new materials US$ 970 million, up 400 percent; and in biotech US$ 22.47 million, up 76 percent.