On August 16, the official of MOFCOM Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services introduced the situation of China’s service trade the first half year and the service outsourcing development in January-July.

The official pointed out that China’s service trade enjoyed a good momentum in the first half year, and China’s service import and export maintained a rapid development. According to statistics, China’s service import and export volume in January-June reached RMB2.53361 trillion, with an increase of 21.5% year on year. Among these, China’s service export was RMB890.22 billion, with an increase of 7.5% year on year and the service import was RMB1.64639 trillion, with an increase of 29.9% year on year.

The official introduced that China’s service trade in the first half year mainly presented the following features:

1. The import and export scale was expanded continuously. In the first half year, China’s service import and export maintained a double-digit growth for six consecutive months, and the growth rate in March-June was over 20%. In the first half year, the service trade accounted for 18.6% of the foreign trade, 4.1 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

2. Export of high value added service accelerated. In the first half year, the export of telecommunications, computer and information service was RMB81.16 billion, with an increase of 16.3% year on year; among these, the export of information service was up 49.7%. The technical service export was RMB44.41 billion, with an increase of 21.2% year on year. The exports of maintenance service, advertisement service and financial service saw a year-on-year growth of 65.9%, 38.3% and 35% respectively.

3. The service import enjoyed a high-speed growth. In the first half year, the growth of China’s service import approached 30%. Among these, the travel service (including tourism and studying abroad) import reached RMB1.07445 trillion, with an increase of 48% year on year, marking the major reason that drives the service import. Besides, the import of insurance service reached RMB 40.3 billion, up 93.4% year on year.

4. The coordination of regional development was strengthened. In the first half year, the import and export of Central and Western China accounted for 13.2% of the national total, and the proportion of the 11 provinces and cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Jing-Jin-Ji area and the Northeast China was 41.8%, 23.9% and 4.4% respectively. The gap of regional development was narrowed gradually. The development of the Eastern China took the lead with both the quantity and quality in the lead.

According to the statistics, in January-July, the service outsourcing contractual volume signed by the Chinese enterprises was RMB560.83 billion and the executed value was RMB349.47 billion, with an increase of 32.1% and 9.8% year on year respectively. Among these, the contractual value of the offshore service outsourcing was RMB387.44 billion and the executed value was RMB224.48 billion, with an increase of 44.6% and 6.2% year on year respectively.

The official introduced that China’s service outsourcing in January-July mainly presented the following features:

1. The executed value of onshore service outsourcing witnessed a rapid growth. With the servicizing of China’s manufacturing industry and the development of service-oriented manufacturing, many enterprises transferred their business emphasis to domestic market, which promoted the rapid development of onshore service outsourcing. In the first 7 months, the executed value of China’s onshore service outsourcing was RMB 124.99 billion, up 16.9% year on year, 10.7 percentage points higher than that of offshore service outsourcing.

2. Eastern coastal provinces and cities dominated the leading advantages of industrial development. In the first 7 months, the executed value of offshore outsourcing undertaken by eastern coastal provinces and cities was RMB 212.14 billion, accounting for 94.5% of the national total, up 7.7% year on year. The executed value of onshore service outsourcing of the central and western area reached RMB 15.92 billion, up 60.4% year on year, higher than that of the eastern area. The industrial division between eastern coastal provinces and cities and the central and western area in service outsourcing was even clear.

3. The newly-signed contractual value of the markets of the “Belt and Road” increased rapidly. In the first seven months, the contractual value of the service outsourcing newly signed by the Chinese enterprises with the relevant countries along the line of the “Belt and Road” was RMB67.96 billion, with an increase of 24.1% year on year, mainly including businesses such as information technology service, engineering design, industrial design and supply chain management. Among these, the contractual value of service outsourcing newly signed by the Chinese enterprises with the Southeast Asian countries was RMB 52.14 billion, with an increase of 72.3% year on year. The amount of newly signed contracts with Central and Eastern European countries reached RMB 1.51 billion, up 41.1% year on year.

4. The industrial agglomeration effect of provinces and cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt was obvious. In the first 7 months, the executed value of provinces and cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt was RMB 227.8 billion, accounting for 65.2% of the total executed value of service outsourcing; among these, the executed value of the offshore service outsourcing undertaken by 11 provinces and cities along the line of the Yangtze River Economic Belt was RMB133.07 billion, accounting for 59.2% of the national total. Led by Yangtze River Delta Area, the industries of the up and middle reaches developed, and the agglomeration and demonstration effects became even obvious. In January-July, there were 1,328 service outsourcing enterprises that were newly established with 297 thousand employees.