China drew $19.3 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months of 2014, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday, indicating a sharp slowdown in February due to the Lunar New Year holidays. Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told a media briefing that the ministry did not release data for February alone due to seasonal distortions caused by the Lunar New Year holidays, when factories, offices and shops often close for long periods. Based on the published data, FDI in February alone was $8.6 billion, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier, slowing sharply from a 16.1 percent increase in January. FDI from the top 10 Asian economies rose 11.6 percent in the first two months to $16.9 billion, while investment from the United States jumped 43.3 percent to $711 million and investment from the European Union fell […]