China's service imports and exports totaled nearly 3.78 trillion yuan (about 556.56 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2026, up 8.3 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce's press office said on Tuesday.

According to data released by the office, exports reached 1.5047 trillion yuan, rising 17.6 percent, while imports stood at 2.27505 trillion yuan, up 2.9 percent.
The service trade deficit narrowed by 161.42 billion yuan from a year earlier to 770.35 billion yuan.
Knowledge-intensive services accounted for 44 percent of total trade, with imports and exports totaling 1.6634 trillion yuan, up 6.7 percent.
Exports in this category hit 805.67 billion yuan, up 12.8 percent and representing 53.5 percent of all service exports. Personal cultural and entertainment services and intellectual property royalties led the growth at 57.2 percent and 44.3 percent respectively.
Imports of knowledge-intensive services rose 1.4 percent to 857.73 billion yuan.
Travel service exports surged 31.1 percent to 229.2 billion yuan, the fastest growth among the top five export sectors.
Transport service imports jumped 30.4 percent to 498.1 billion yuan, the fastest among the top five import sectors.