BEIJING, Nov. 20 -- China's service outsourcing industry saw a steady expansion in the first 10 months of this year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese firms inked service outsourcing contracts worth about 1.54 trillion yuan (about 216 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-October period, up 14.4 percent year on year.

The executed contract value stood at 1.06 trillion yuan during the period, with a year-on-year increase of 13.3 percent.

Of the total, the value of the offshore service outsourcing contract rose 14.6 percent over the same period last year to 875.7 billion yuan.

In terms of the executed contract value, offshore service outsourcing with the United States, the European Union and members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership expanded 10.5 percent, 19.6 percent and 7.5 percent year on year, respectively, in the first 10 months of this year.

Outsourcing refers to hiring an outside party to carry out services or produce goods typically undertaken by in-house employees.