China's services trade reports steady growth in first two months

BEIJING - China's services trade saw steady growth in the first two months of the year, including a steep increase in the trade of travel-related services, official data showed on Tuesday.

The country's services trade totaled nearly 1.31 trillion yuan ($182.51 billion) during the period, up 9.9 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Services exports reached 549.58 billion yuan, up 13 percent from a year earlier, and services imports rose 7.8 percent to 759.98 billion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 210.4 billion yuan.

Trade in travel-related services continued rapid growth momentum, jumping 28.9 percent year-on-year to reach 409.8 billion yuan, the data showed.

Meanwhile, trade in knowledge-intensive services rose 2.5 percent year-on-year to 476.65 billion yuan.