Sales of international renminbi bonds have surged this year as the country’s fixed income investors, starved of decent returns at home, take advantage of new market access to snap up higher-yielding Chinese currency debt offshore.

The volume of dim sum bond offerings — renminbi-denominated debt sold in Hong Kong — has risen 145 per cent from a year ago to Rmb126.8bn ($19.3bn), already surpassing the full-year total of 2021, according to data from Refinitiv. That puts the market on track for its best year since 2016.

The revival of Hong Kong’s long-stagnant dim sum market stands in sharp contrast to negative sentiment in China’s market for onshore renminbi debt, which foreign investors have been dumping at a record pace in favour of higher yielding dollar debt.