Chinese firms inked service outsourcing contracts worth about 1.1 trillion yuan in the January-October period, up 9.3 percent year on year. In China, service outsourcing falls into three sub-sectors covering information technology, business process and knowledge process.

Shandong Province in east China saw its paid-in foreign investment grow 30.2 percent year on year in the first 10 months this year. The growth was 95.1 percent for its hi-tech service industry, with the volume reaching $1.56 billion.

China's imports of steel hit a new high of 2.89 million tons in September. The import price averaged $689 per ton.