A Chinese trade official said Wednesday the country's service outsourcing sector was doing brisk business despite the global economic downturn.

Service outsourcing lets overseas companies transfer service operations to providers in China so they can deal with their core business. Service outsourcing helps overseas clients manage business operations such as technology, training, logistics and advertising.

In June this year China had 6,673 companies specializing in service outsourcing, including the introduction of 1,406 new ventures between January and June, said Lin Zheying, deputy chief of foreign investment department with the Ministry of Commerce, addressing an international conference on service outsourcing development Wednesday.

The companies completed US$2.56 billion worth of international service outsourcing contracts from January to June, up 32.5 percent from the same period last year, said Lin.

"The government has adopted a strategy of introducing a host of preferential policies to encourage and support development of service outsourcing since the start of the year, which has been effective,"said Lin. He said the strategy had also provided jobs.

Lin said 1.22 million have found employment in the country's service outsourcing sector, 82 percent of them college graduates.

The service providers are now primarily clustered around the Bohai Sea rim in north China, the Yangtze River Delta in east China, and the Pearl River Delta in south China.

Lin said greater efforts would be made to encourage innovation, and to work for China's brand names in future development of service outsourcing.

"In accordance with development momentum, it is probable the sector could attain the pre-set target of doing $30 billion worth of business by the year 2013," said Lin.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2009)