BEIJING — China’s service outsourcing industry reported stable growth in the first half of 2019 as the country steps up efforts to narrow service trade deficit, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed on July 18.

Chinese businesses inked service outsourcing contracts worth 709.98 billion yuan ($72.2 billion) during the January-June period, up 29.3 percent year-on-year.

Of the total, offshore service outsourcing contracts reached 464.92 billion yuan, rising 34.6 percent from a year earlier.