BEIJING — China’s service outsourcing industry reports stable growth in the first five months of 2019, the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed.

Chinese businesses inked service outsourcing contracts worth 482.01 billion yuan ($72.2 billion) during the January-May period, up 19.3 percent year-on-year.

Of the total, offshore service outsourcing contracts reached 306.11 billion yuan, rising 20.1 percent from a year earlier.

Deals were supported by robust growth of productive service outsourcing, covering services including purchasing, testing and e-commerce platforms, as well as online marketing and pitching, according to the MOC.

Service outsourcing contracts fulfilled with businesses in the European Union jumped 24.9 percent to 30.57 billion yuan in value, with those fulfilled with Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Sweden reporting double-digit growth rates, the ministry said.

Outsourcing deals implemented with Belt and Road countries stood at 30.98 billion yuan in value, with Russia becoming a new highlight, the MOC said.