China's catering sector expects to reap 880 billion yuan (US$108.6 billion) in retail sales in 2005, continuing the two-digit growth of the last 14 years, said sources with the Ministry of Commerce.

The figure will exceed one trillion yuan (US$123.4 billion) in 2006, said an official with the Commercial Reform Department of Ministry of Commerce at a press release of the 2005 China Catering Business Expo, which is scheduled to open Tuesday.

China's catering sector has achieved remarkable progress over the past 20 years, witnessing expanding scale and gradual industrial structure optimization, the official said.

According to statistics, the country's catering sector realized a retail sales volume of 748.6 billion yuan (US$92.4 billion) in 2004, about 136 times more than the 1978 figure, with the number of catering businesses exceeding 4 million.

At present, retail sales in the catering sector account for 5.84 percent of the country's GDP and contribute an increase of 17.62 percent to the added value recorded in the country's tertiary industry.

The catering sector has also turned out to be an important channel for employment. The sector employed about 18 million people in 2004, representing a 16-fold increase over the 1978 figure.

The Ministry of Commerce expects retail sales in the catering sector to hit one trillion yuan (US$123.4 billion) in 2006, which will further grow to two trillion yuan (US$246.9 billion) by 2020.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2005)