China’s services trade rises 4.9 percent in first four months

…As knowledge-intensive exports thrive

From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, has said that China’s total services imports and exports rose 4.9 percent year on year to nearly 2.49 trillion yuan (about $346 billion) in the first four months of 2026.

CGTN reported that data released by the ministry showed that services exports increased 15 percent to 985 billion yuan, while imports fell 0.8 percent to 1.5 trillion yuan.

The services trade deficit, it added, narrowed by 139.7 billion yuan from a year earlier.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce further explained that knowledge-intensive services trade remained a major growth driver, accounting for 44.4 percent of China’s total services trade.

CGTN further reported that among them, exports of personal cultural and entertainment services and intellectual property royalties grew 39.5 percent and 20.8 percent respectively.

“The trend was reflected in the biopharmaceutical sector. In the first five months of this year, Suzhou BioBay in East China’s Jiangsu Province completed eight overseas cooperation projects involving independently developed biopharmaceutical intellectual property, with total transactions exceeding $26.6 billion, more than five times the level recorded a year earlier,” the news medium stated.