??? THE contract amount of the city’s off-shore service outsourcing industry reached US$132 million in the first three months of this year, an increase of 686.1 percent over the same period last year. Among these, the contract amount of information technology outsourcing reached US$72.19 million, an increase of 814.9 percent. Some US$57.60 million was paid, an increase of 533.4 percent. The contract amount of business procedure outsourcing was US$10.85 million, an increase of 154.1 percent. Some US$10.56 million was paid, an increase of 164.9 percent. The contract amount of knowledge procedure outsourcing was US$49.08 million, an increase of 956.1 percent. The Unites States, Canada and Japan are the biggest clients. In the first quarter, the city had 149 off-shore service outsourcing contracts. Among these, 28 contracts with US$12.74 million are from the United States, increasing by 153.3 percent, while 11 with US$32.06 million are from Canada and 62 with US$46.48 million are from Japan. The amount of off-shore service outsourcing business from Japan rose by 40 percent in the first quarter, a sharp increase over last year. ?(Wang Yuanyuan, Shen Junlin) | 