China's service trade grows 4.9 percent in first four months

China's services trade expanded 4.9 percent year on year in the first four months of 2026, with exports of travel and knowledge-intensive services reporting particularly strong growth, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce on Friday.

The total value of service imports and exports reached nearly 2.49 trillion yuan (about 364.65 billion U.S. dollars) from January to April this year, according to the data.

Throughout the period, travel service exports grew at the fastest rate of any service export sector, rising 30.4 percent to 147.15 billion yuan.

Knowledge-intensive services trade rose 5.1 percent year on year to 1.1 trillion yuan during the same period, accounting for 44.4 percent of all service trade. Notably, export of cultural and entertainment services and the charges for the use of intellectual property surged 39.5 percent and 20.8 percent respectively.

Friday's data also noted that imports of transport services totaled 316.45 billion yuan during the period, up 24.9 percent, the fastest growth rate among the top five service import categories. ■