China's service outsourcing industry saw a steady expansion in 2022, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

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

Chinese companies sealed service outsourcing deals worth about 2.44 trillion yuan ($363.32 billion) last year, surging 14.2 percent on a yearly basis, the ministry said in an online statement.

In the meantime, their executed contract value grew 10.3 percent year-on-year to 1.65 trillion yuan.

Of the total, the value of Chinese businesses' offshore service outsourcing contracts rose 16.7 percent on a yearly basis to 1.32 trillion yuan in 2022.

In terms of the executed contract value, offshore service outsourcing with the United States and the European Union amounted to 187.8 billion yuan and 123.2 billion yuan, respectively, last year.