China attracted 12 billion U.S. dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI) in June, 6.9 percent lass than a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Tuesday. The figure took the country's first-half FDI inflow to 59.1 billion U.S. dollars, down 3 percent year on year, MOC spokesman Shen Danyang was quoted by Chinese News Agency (Xinhua) as saying at a press conference. Investment from the debt-ridden European Union (EU) rebounded one percent in the first half from a year ago, Shen said. From January to May, investment from the EU declined 5.1 percent, according to the MOC data. It showed that a total of 2,444 new companies were founded with foreign capital in June, down 16.3 percent year on year. During the first six months, 11,705 new companies were set up, 13.1 percent fewer than in the same period last year.