China provides over 30% of outsourcing globally: report

BEIJING ?- Chinese firms are securing more market shares in global offshore service outsourcing as they seek to narrow the gap with the current largest provider, India, an official report showed.

After booming growth in the past five years, China accounted for 30.2 percent of the world's outsourcing market by 2014, up from 23.2 percent in 2011, providing services for nearly 200 countries and regions worldwide, according to the report published Sunday by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

Notably, countries along the "Belt and Road" in Asia and Europe have served as a new growth point, said the report.

Qian Fangli, an MOC researcher, said the sector has improved its structure and fostered new models since 2011, which helped the offshore business volume keep an average annual growth of more than 40 percent.

China became the world's second largest offshore outsourcing provider in 2011, only after India which currently occupies 46.4 percent of the global market.

Given a continued economic slowdown, China is seeking impetus in service outsourcing to help prop up growth. Policymakers are trying to develop the sector into a new trade advantage to offset weakening exports.

Qian expects favorable measures from the government will continue to stimulate the sector during the 2016-2020 period, but warned of emerging challenges from intensified global competition and rising domestic salaries.

"The sector still faces the lack of qualified workers, which has to be addressed if China wants to overtake India to become the largest outsourcing provider in the next 10 years," said Wei Jianguo, vice director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.