BEIJING (Reuters) - Foreign direct investment into China amounted to 580.19 billion yuan ($81.80 billion) in January-August, down 31.5% from the same period last year, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Saturday.

The slump was bigger than the 29.6% fall during Jan-July.

($1 = 7.0930 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Alex Richardson)