BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) saw steady growth in the first half of 2018, official data showed Tuesday.

Domestic investors made 57.2 billion U.S. dollars of non-financial ODI in over 3,600 overseas enterprises in 151 countries and regions in the first six months, the Ministry of Commerce said.

The investment was up 18.7 percent from the same period last year.

ODI in countries along the Belt and Road rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 7.4 billion dollars during the first half.

The structure of outbound investment continued to improve, with investment mainly going into leasing and business services, manufacturing, mining and retail and wholesale sectors. No new projects were reported in sectors such as property development, sports and entertainment.

By the end of June, China had built 113 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones in 46 countries, with a total investment of 34.9 billion dollars and attracting more than 4,500 companies.

The cooperation zones created total tax revenue of 2.9 billion dollars and 287,000 jobs in host countries.