On the afternoon of January 30, according to the website of the Ministry of Commerce, the person in charge of the service trade department of the Ministry of Commerce introduced the development of China’s service trade in 2021.
In 2021, China’s service trade continued to grow rapidly, with the total import and export of services reaching 5298.27 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 16.1%; Among them, the export of services was 25435 billion yuan, an increase of 31.4%; Imports reached 2754770 million yuan, an increase of 4.8%. The growth rate of service export was 26.6 percentage points higher than that of import, which led to the decline of service trade deficit by 69.5% to 211.27 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 481.66 billion yuan, the lowest since 2011. In December, China’s total import and export of services amounted to 619.73 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.6%.
The national teleconference on trade in services and trade services held by the Ministry of commerce at the end of January pointed out that the development of China’s trade in services in 2021 was better than expected, and the service consumption recovered steadily, making a positive contribution to the good start of the 14th five year plan.
Xiao Benhua, vice president of the Free Trade Zone Research Institute of Shanghai Lixin Institute of accounting and finance, said in an interview with the reporter of Securities Daily that China’s service trade showed a restorative growth in 2021, almost returning to the level of 2019 before the outbreak. The biggest highlight is that the export of service trade not only saw a rapid growth, but also narrowed the deficit of China’s service trade, Moreover, the structure has been optimized, and the trade in knowledge services has achieved stable growth.
According to the person in charge of the above service trade department, China’s service trade in 2021 mainly presents the following characteristics:
First, trade in knowledge intensive services grew steadily. Among them, personal cultural and entertainment services, intellectual property royalties, telecommunications, computers and information services increased by 35%, 26.9% and 22.3% respectively; The areas with rapid import growth were financial services and insurance services, with growth rates of 57.5% and 21.5%.
Second, the import and export of transportation services increased significantly. With the rapid growth of goods trade, transportation services have increased significantly. In 2021, the import and export of transportation services reached 1682.15 billion yuan, an increase of 61.2%, becoming the fastest growing field among the twelve major fields of service trade.
Third, the import and export of travel services continued to decline. The impact of covid-19 pneumonia on the import and export of travel services continues. Excluding travel services, China’s import and export of services increased by 27.2% in 2021, of which export increased by 35.6% and import increased by 18.3%.
The above-mentioned national teleconference on trade in services and trade services stressed that the overall trend of China’s trade in services and trade services to resume development and stabilize for the better has not changed, and will still be in an important period of promising strategic opportunities. We should adhere to the principle of “taking the lead in stability and seeking progress while maintaining stability”, and strive to improve the quality of trade in services and trade services.
China will continue to expand its service trade this year; Second, the further recovery of trade in goods will continue to promote the development of productive service trade; Third, the rapid development of digital trade.
Bai Wenxi, chief economist of IPG China, told the Securities Daily that with the gradual recovery of international exchanges this year, the development of international trade in services is facing new pattern changes. The recovery, growth and rebound of international trade in services will provide new markets and opportunities for China to expand the scale of trade in services, and will also intensify the competition in trade in services.
Xiao Benhua said that in order to promote the high-quality development of China’s service trade, first, we should continue to expand opening-up, give play to the pilot role of Hainan free trade port and Shanghai Lingang Holdings Co.Ltd(600848) new area, and promote the management of negative lists in the field of cross-border service trade; Second, continue to deepen reform, create a good business environment for the development of the service industry, and increase policy support for knowledge intensive service trade in terms of financial support and talent services.
Bai Wenxi suggested that on the one hand, we need to solve the fetters of promoting the development of service trade at the institutional, institutional and policy levels, consolidate the good momentum of the rapid development of knowledge intensive service trade, and promote the recovery of international tourism as soon as possible. On the other hand, we also need to cultivate and enhance the industry competitiveness and sustainable development ability of China’s service trade.
