China's food delivery market grows 23％ in 2017

China's food delivery market registered fast growth last year as young Chinese people are increasingly choosing to order food online, a report showed.

The online food delivery market hit 204.6 billion yuan (about 31.9 billion US dollars) in 2017, 23 percent more than the previous year, according to a report by Meituan Waimai, a major food delivery firm.

Almost 300 million users have used online services to order food, the report showed.

Young people were among the most active users, according to Jiang Junxian, director of China Cuisine Association (CCA).

According to Jiang, while online food delivery market has seen rapid expansion, there is still room for businesses to grow as food delivery accounts for a relatively small portion of the total catering industry.

CCA data showed that the country's catering market flourished in 2017 with its overall revenue exceeding 3.96 trillion yuan, up 10.7 percent year-on-year.

According to Yang Wenjie from Meituan Waimai, one of the growth points for food delivery came from smaller cities, which have seen faster expansion in orders compared with major cities.

China's booming online catering market also boosted the popularity of mobile payment. Around 60 percent of Chinese consumers paid for food via smartphones, according to the CCA.

(CGTN)