China’s food delivery market is expected to expand within the next three years to reach 1 trillion yuan (about $142 billion), according to an industry report.

(Photo/Xinhua)

Online food delivery is estimated to account for about 20 percent of the country’s catering industry this year, said the report released by the China Hospitality Association and the Meituan Research Institute under Chinese food delivery giant Meituan Dianping.

China’s food delivery market hit 653.6 billion yuan in 2019, 39.3 percent more than the year before, according to statistics from iResearch.

Last year, the transaction volume of Meituan’s food delivery business increased 38.9 percent to 392.7 billion yuan, according to the company’s financial report. The daily average number of transactions rose 36.4 percent to 23.9 million, while the average value per order of its food delivery business grew 1.8 percent year-on-year.

By the end of 2019, the number of food delivery consumers reached 460 million, accounting for 50.7 percent of the country’s total number of internet users.

Meituan added around 1 million new couriers between Jan. 20 and May 24, playing an effective role in creating jobs.