BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's annual non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in 2018 is expected to remain flat with last year despite a drop in November, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

"In general, China has registered continued healthy growth of ODI this year," MOC spokesperson Gao Feng told a news conference.

China's ODI was down 29.8 percent year on year to 14.91 billion U.S. dollars in November, Gao said, attributing the fluctuation to change in investment structure.

He said China's ODI in the first 11 months had remained flat with last year.

Domestic investors made 104.48 billion U.S. dollars of non-financial ODI in 5,213 overseas enterprises in 157 countries and regions from January to November, earlier MOC data showed.

The structure of outbound investment continued to improve, with investment mainly going into leasing and business services, manufacturing, mining, and retail and wholesale sectors, according to the ministry.

No new projects were reported in sectors such as property development, sports, and entertainment.