(Yicai Global) July 6 -- China's January to May service trade deficit widened this year.

The deficit for the first five months rose 17.9 percent year-on-year to USD101 billion (CNY688.75 billion), the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said yesterday on its official website. The deficit came mainly from tourism, transportation and intellectual property rights usage, while the professional management and consulting, telecommunications, computer and information technology, and processing service sectors had surpluses.

January to May exports of services increased 4.6 percent to CNY567.94 billion and imports grew 11.5 percent to CNY1.26 billion, the commerce ministry said. In May, service exports rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to CNY114.59 billion, up 4.4 percentage points from the previous month, and service imports increased 17.4 percent year-on-year to CNY264.28 billion, 11.4 percentage points higher than in the previous month.