BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's trade in services maintained brisk growth in the first nine months of 2026 as the country moved to foster new drivers of foreign trade and promote high-standard opening up.
Services imports and exports totaled 5.77 trillion yuan (about 858.89 billion U.S. dollars) in the Jan.-Sept. period, up 8.5 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Exports rose 14.8 percent while imports grew 4.8 percent, leaving a services trade deficit of 1.23 trillion yuan.
This performance was buoyed by a surge in transport services and steady gains in knowledge-intensive sectors. Transport services led all categories with growth of 33.9 percent in this period. Knowledge-intensive services, which accounted for 43.9 percent of total services trade, expanded steadily by 7.4 percent.
These figures underscore a broader shift in China's trade structure as the country moves toward a more consumption- and innovation-driven economy.
Experts say the development of services trade is significant for building new competitive advantages in international trade, fostering a more open economy, and supporting high-quality development.
Policy support has been strengthened. The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) calls for vigorously developing services trade, while the 2026 government work report vows to improve national standards for the service sector and cultivate the "China Services" brand.
In April, the Ministry of Commerce launched a plan to develop national demonstration zones for the services trade in 16 cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, as well as Hainan Province, with the goal of cultivating key services industry clusters and significantly improving the level of services trade liberalization by 2035.
China's growing services trade carries global significance as well.
Li Bin, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said China's services imports reached more than 620 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, covering travel, intellectual property, transport and business services, making China the world's second-largest importer of services.
China's steady growth in services imports has strongly supported the development of global services trade and effectively promoted employment and growth in other economies, Li noted. ■
