BEIJING — China’s service outsourcing industry continued to grow in the first two months of this year despite economic headwinds, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on March 16.

Chinese companies inked service outsourcing contracts worth $16.92 billion, up 7.5 percent year on year, Shen Danyang, spokesperson for the MOC, told a press conference.

Among the deals were offshore service outsourcing contracts valued at 75.54 billion yuan ($11.64 billion) in the first two months, rising 28.5 percent year on year.

Cooperation in service outsourcing with countries along the Belt and Road saw quicker growth, with contracts valued at 11.8 billion yuan for the January-February period, surging 13 percent from a year ago.

Outsourcing of information technology-related contracts accounted for 51 percent of all projects, according to Shen Danyang.

Regions along the Yangtze River economic belt saw robust development in service outsourcing during the period with total contract value reaching 41.87 billion yuan in offshore service outsourcing, up 12.2 percent year on year and accounting for 55.4 percent of the total nationwide, said Shen.

China is the world’s second largest service outsourcing provider after India. The State Council described the sector as a “green industry” that will be a new engine for tertiary industry and a boon to increasing employment.