At the regular press conference held on September 7, Spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Gao Feng briefed on the working highlights in the area of commerce. As Gao introduced, imports and exports in service trade are valued at 2.65297 trillion yuan from January to July of 2017, an increase of 10.6% over the same period of 2016. Specifically, the exports and imports are valued at 807.72 billion yuan and 1.84524 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.4% and 13.5% respectively, with a deficit of 1.03752 trillion yuan. In July alone, imports in service trade decrease by 1.9% and record at 368.13 billion yuan, of which exports are valued at 113.31 billion yuan, and imports are valued at 254.82 billion yuan, down 2% and 1.9% respectively.
Data reflected four characteristics in the imports and exports of services, said Gao.
First, the export structure is optimized. The exports in emerging fields are valued at 405.75 billion yuan, increasing by 8.3% (compared to an overall increase of 4.4%) and accounting for 50.2% of the total exports (an increase of 1.8%). Specifically, IPR loyalties, individual cultural and recreational services increase by 489.4%, 20.4% and 14.4% respectively.
Second, imports by some emerging sectors mark rapid increase. Except insurance and finance, other emerging sectors keep positive growth. Imports in telecommunication, computing and information sectors record 71.79 billion yuan, an increase of 74.2%; imports contributed by IPR loyalties reach 112.58 billion yuan, increasing by 25.8%.
Third, imports and exports in traditional sectors keep a steady increase. Due to the increase of 18.5% in imports and exports of products, imports and exports in transportation trade are valued at 491.83 billion yuan, an increase of 19.2%, of which exports increase by 14.2% and imports by 21.3%. Travel related imports and exports are valued at 1,184.2 billion yuan, an increase of 8.7%, of which exports decrease by 8.3% and imports increase by 11.7%.
Fourth, service trade deficit is narrowing. Services involving professional management and consultation and telecommunication, computing and information contribute the major trade surplus to emerging sectors, with the figure reaching 57.59 and 39.02 billion yuan respectively from January to July in 2017. In July alone, deficit of service trade reaches 141.5 billion yuan, decreasing by 1.8% over June.

Source: IPR in China