China's service outsourcing industry notched a steady expansion during the January-May period, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Chinese firms inked service outsourcing contracts worth about 726.6 billion yuan (about 108.29 billion U.S. dollars) in the first five months, up 11.9 percent year on year.

The executed contract value came in at 466.3 billion yuan during the period, with a year-on-year increase of 14.6 percent.

Outsourcing is the business practice of hiring a party outside a company to perform services and make goods traditionally undertaken by the company's employees.

Of the total, offshore service outsourcing contract value rose 13.2 percent from a year ago to 412.9 billion yuan, with the executed contract value rising 11.1 percent from a year earlier to 263.9 billion yuan in the January-May period.