BEIJING July 18 (Xinhua) -- China's on-line transactions are expected to reach one trillion yuan this year, a sharp rise from last year's 700 billion yuan, said a report released here Tuesday.

    China's e-commerce transaction volume has grown by 50-60 percent over the past couple of years and is expected to maintain fast growth for several years to come, said the report released by China Center for Information Industry Development Consulting (CCIDConsulting).

    The number of Chinese netizens has surpassed 110 million and more than 40 million personal computers have access to broadband. "It means China's infrastructure is ready for a boom in e-commerce," said Chi Congbing, analyst with CCID Consulting.

    Small and medium-sized companies will soon make up the majority of companies conducting e-business, she said.

    Statistics with CCID Consulting show that 99 percent of China's 31 million companies are small and medium-sized, yet only 800,000 of them made deals over the internet.

    Chi believe they will begin to use e-commerce over the next couple of years, Chi said.

    According to the report, over three million small and medium-sized companies will choose on-line transactions and their investment in e-commerce will rise by 35 percent every year to 100billion yuan in 2010.

    Despite the great potential, CCID Consulting president Huang Yong, warned that China's e-commerce still faces challenges stemming from a lack of policies and a credit system. (1 US dollar=8.0 yuan) Enditem