BEIJING, CHINA - A total of 63 million Chinese were running Internet businesses at the end of June, as traders turned to the Web due to its low cost and wide reach amid the global crisis, reports said Wednesday.

The number of new Internet shops has jumped by at least 5,000 a day since a year ago, the Beijing Youth Daily said, citing a research report by e-commerce firm Alibaba, which owns China's top auction website Taobao.

The report did not indicate how quickly the number of online traders had grown.

The official China Internet Network Information Centre said in a January report that 11 million people opened online shops or sold goods on the Internet last year.

A total of 74 million people were shopping on the Web in 2008, up 60 percent from 2007, the centre said.

According to a recent survey by job agency zhaopin.com, 30 percent of China's white-collar workers had run an Internet shop and 60 percent were interested in starting such a business to make extra money amid the crisis.

The Alibaba research report said e-commerce sales had increased this year despite the global downturn, with a wide range of goods on offer, from food and clothes to industrial products, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

The Internet provided a welcome alternative to Chinese exporters, which have been suffering from shrinking overseas demand and found the Web a convenient and efficient way to sell products in the domestic market, it added.

China has at least 338 million Internet users, more than any other country in the world.