China's service trade up 8.5% in first six months

BEIJING -- China's service trade value grew 8.5 percent year-on-year in the first six months of this year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed on Thursday.

Total trade value stood at 3.14 trillion yuan ($439.19 billion), according to the data.

Service exports declined 5.9 percent year-on-year to 1.32 trillion yuan, and service imports were 1.81 trillion yuan, up 22.1 percent from a year ago.

The service trade deficit stood at 489.4 billion yuan in the first half of the year, the data showed.

China's trade of knowledge-intensive services maintained steady growth in the period, rising 12.3 percent year-on-year to about 1.36 trillion yuan.

The figure represents 43.5 percent of the total service trade in the first six months, up 1.5 percentage points from a year ago.

During the period, services related to the travel sector registered a notable recovery. Total trade value in the sector surged 65.4 percent from a year earlier to 650.94 billion yuan.

Exports and imports of travel services expanded by 52.4 percent and 66.4 percent year-on-year, respectively, according to the data.