China's services trade maintained steady growth in the first seven months of this year, with total imports and exports reaching about 4.58 trillion yuan (about 644.2 billion U.S. dollars), up 8.2 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.
Specifically, services exports rose 15.3 percent to nearly 2 trillion yuan, while imports increased by 3.3 percent to some 2.58 trillion yuan. The services trade deficit went down by 183.62 billion yuan to 581.56 billion yuan, compared with the same period last year.
In the seven-month period, knowledge-intensive services trade saw continued growth, with imports and exports approaching 1.78 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.8 percent.
In particular, imports and exports of other commercial services rose by 3.4 percent to 750.97 billion yuan, and telecommunication, computer and information services grew by 12.6 percent to 626.8 billion yuan.
Knowledge-intensive services exports rose 8.6 percent to nearly 1.03 trillion yuan, while imports increased 4.6 percent to 750.27 billion yuan in the first seven months. The services trade surplus stood at 275.06 billion yuan, a growth of 48.27 billion yuan from the previous year.
From January to July, travel-related services trade saw rapid growth, with the total trade volume reaching nearly 1.26 trillion yuan, 10.4 percent higher than one year ago.
Notably, the exports of travel-related services surged 62.9 percent while imports went up by 3.9 percent during the period.
China's services trade up 8.2 pct in first seven months
