Ministry of Commerce: China's total service trade volume in the first quarter was 1.8229 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.3%.

On May 8th, the person in charge of the Department of Trade in Services of the Ministry of Commerce introduced the development of service trade in the first quarter of 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, the total volume of service imports and exports in China was 1.8229 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.3% year-on-year. Among them, exports were 704.52 billion yuan, an increase of 11.2%; imports were 1.11838 trillion yuan, a decrease of 2.6%. The trade deficit in services was 413.86 billion yuan, shrinking by 100.15 billion yuan compared to the same period of the previous year. The article lists the following characteristics: - Knowledge-intensive service exports maintained relatively fast growth. In the first quarter, the volume of knowledge-intensive service imports and exports was 793.71 billion yuan, an increase of 1.6%, accounting for 43.5% of the total service imports and exports. Knowledge-intensive service exports were 384.26 billion yuan, an increase of 6.1%, with personal cultural and entertainment services and financial services growing the fastest at 25.6% and 16.1%, respectively; knowledge-intensive service imports were 409.45 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.3%. - Export of travel services and import of transportation services saw rapid growth. In the first quarter, the export of travel services was 105.35 billion yuan, an increase of 32.3%, ranking first in terms of growth among various service export sectors; the import of transportation services was 230.21 billion yuan, an increase of 22.8%, the fastest growth among the top five sectors in terms of service imports. This article is compiled from the official website of the Ministry of Commerce; GMTEight Editor: Chen Xiaoyi.