Trade in services maintains growth, reaching 3.1t yuan

China's trade in services maintained steady growth in the first five months of 2026, supported by robust expansion in travel-related and knowledge-intensive services, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce.

The country's total services imports and exports reached 3.1 trillion yuan ($456.88 billion) between January and May, up 6 percent year-on-year.

In contrast to goods trade, trade in services refers to the sales and delivery of intangible services like transportation, tourism, telecommunications, advertising, education, computing, and accounting.

Service exports climbed 15.9 percent on a yearly basis to 1.23 trillion yuan during the period, while imports edged up 0.4 percent to 1.87 trillion yuan. China's services trade deficit narrowed by 160.72 billion yuan from a year earlier to 638.56 billion yuan, the Commerce Ministry said.

Knowledge-intensive services remained a key driver of growth during the January-May period, with total trade in the segment increasing 5.4 percent year-on-year to 1.37 trillion yuan, accounting for 44.2 percent of China's total trade in services.

In the meantime, travel services continued to lead export growth, with exports rising 31.3 percent year-on-year to 188.5 billion yuan. On the import side, transport services posted the fastest increase among the top five service import categories, climbing 26.7 percent to 402.52 billion yuan.