European investment in China is growing more concentrated with a handful of large firms particularly from Germany doubling down on their bets while virtually no new players seek to enter the market, according to a new report by research organization Rhodium Group, reports Reuters.
The three big German automakers—Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler—as well as chemicals group BASF, accounted for a third of all European investment into China from 2018 to 2021, according to the report.
Germany as a whole, where former Chancellor Angela Merkel actively encouraged and aided companies to enter the Chinese market, accounted for 43% of foreign direct investment (FDI) over those four years, compared with 34% in the previous decade.