China's northern business hub Tianjin has seen an 18 percent increase of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first quarter, according to the municipal commerce department on Thursday.

The city approved 141 FDI programs and attracted 5.1 billion U.S. dollars in FDI in the first three months, up 17.87 percent from the previous year, according to the department.

About 65 percent of the city's total FDI in the first quarter came from the Binhai New Area, a national-level development zone established in 1994 as a growth engine for the area surrounding Bohai Bay in north China.

The service industry is the focus of foreign investors as 3.09 billion U.S. dollars flocked to the sector in the first quarter, up 45.2 percent year on year.

Tianjin is leading the country in FDI, as China attracted 29.91 billion U.S. dollars in FDI in the first quarter this year, up only 1.44 percent year on year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

A total of 93 foreign companies, including the Volkswagen, Shell and Hitachi, have increased their investment in Tianjin in the first quarter. The newly-added investment from them amounted to 2.95 billion U.S. dollars during the period, up 81.8 percent year on year.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai