A chef takes a roast duck out of an oven at a Quanjude restaurant in Jinan, capital of Shandong province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

East China's Shandong province has topped the list in catering sector revenue in China, reaching 399.5 billion yuan ($58 billion) last year, according to a report released Wednesday.

Jointly released by Xinhuanet and China Hospitality Association in Beijing, the report shows the total catering sector revenue in the country hit 4,271.6 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year growth of 9.5 percent, with Shandong the most, followed by the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu and Hebei, whose revenue all surpassed 300 billion yuan.

Sichuan province, which is known as a hotpot province, is positioned in sixth place with 280.74 billion yuan worth of revenue. Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin ranked in the 16th, 17th and 18th positions, respectively.

The report shows 875.7 billion yuan in total revenue was generated from hotpot in 2018, a growth of 52 percent compared with 2014.

The number of hotpot restaurants in Jinan, capital city of Shandong province, had surpassed 3,800, double the number two years ago, according to the Shandong Hotpot Catering Association.

The number of hotpot restaurants in Shandong accounted for 6.4 percent of the total restaurants in the province, said Ma Jisheng, head of the association.

"Although the ratio is not very high, the total output from hotpot restaurants in Shandong ranks among the top three in China because Shandong has a large population," said Ma.