Shandong takes biggest bite of China's 2018 catering market

BEIJING - China's catering market saw continued growth in 2018, with East China's Shandong province ranking first among 31 provincial regions in China, an industrial report showed.

The income of China's catering industry increased to over 4.27 trillion yuan ($621.67 billion) in 2018, up 9.5 percent year-on-year, according to a report by the China Hotel Association.

Shandong's catering income reached 399.5 billion yuan last year, up 10.9 percent year-on-year and the biggest catering provincial market across the country.

The province was followed by Guangdong, Jiangsu and Hebei, whose catering revenue all topped 300 billion yuan.

West China's Sichuan province, known for its hot pots, ranked sixth by raking in 280.74 billion yuan.

The total income of the top 10 accounted for 66 percent of China's catering industry, cementing their roles as key drivers for China's catering market.