Pedestrians pass by a real estate agency in Sydney, Australia, Nov 22, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

China's outbound direct investment into Australia surged 56.1 percent year-on-year to $3.68 billion in 2016, exceeding the growth rate of the country's overall ODI, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

The investment mainly flowed into sectors including real estate, leasing and commercial services and transportation, said Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen.

The growth rate of China's ODI in 2016 was 44.1 percent.

Wang made the remarks at the first China-Australia Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Beijing.

Wang said that in addition to investment levels, the two countries' trade structure had also been further optimized since the signing of a free trade agreement two years ago.

"The FTA between China and Australia provides both sides with new mechanisms and platforms for economic and trade cooperation," the minister added.

Trade between the two countries amounted to 712.38 billion yuan ($103.52 billion) in 2016, up 0.9 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

A number of Chinese airlines increased direct flights between different Chinese locations and Australian cities, and the number of Chinese tourists to Australia exceeded 1.3 million in 2016, up 17.9 percent year-on-year.

On Monday, the first shipment of 1,195 cattle from Australia arrived at Qingdao port in Shandong province. After slaughtering and processing, beef will be available at supermarkets soon.

"The China-Australia FTA came at a critical time when many economies took measures such as trade remedy investigations on specific Chinese products or moved factories to Vietnam to compete with China," said He Jingtong, a professor of trade policy at Nankai University in Tianjin.

Cheng Yu contributed to this story.