Fresh investment in China by South Korean companies continued to rise sharply in the first half of the year, with the annual tally for 2016 well expected to reach a 12-year high, a local trade organization said Tuesday.

In the January-June period, investment by South Korean firms in China came to $2.84 billion, up 17.8 percent from the same period last year, according to data from the Korea International Trade Association.

At the current pace, South Korea's fresh corporate investment in China is expected to reach over $5 billion by the end of the year, marking a double-digit increase from $4.04 billion in 2015 and the highest level in 12 years.

South Korea's corporate investment in China peaked at $6.25 billion in 2004, according to KITA.

The on-year increase comes amid a rise in the overall amount of South Korean investment in China, apparently helped by the country's bilateral free trade agreement that went into effect late last year.

In the first five months of the year, fresh South Korean investment that arrived in China jumped 12.2 percent on-year, KITA said earlier.

Japanese investment in China, on the other hand, is on a steady decline, plunging to $3.21 billion in 2015 from $4.33 billion the previous year and $7.06 billion in 2013, according to KITA. (Yonhap)