(Yicai Global) Oct. 8 -- China’s trade in knowledge-intensive services jumped 12 percent to nearly CNY1.48 trillion (USD229.4 billion) in the first eight months of the year from the same period in 2020, accounting for 45.1 percent of total service trade, a gain of 1 percentage point, according to the latest official data.

Knowledge-intensive service exports jumped 16 percent from a year ago to CNY803.82 billion (USD124.59 billion), while knowledge-intensive service imports rose 7.5 percent to CNY671.6 billion, data released by the commerce ministry showed on Oct. 3.

The digital economy, as well as the digital transformation of the traditional economy, will help increase investment in data-intensive and knowledge-intensive services as well as boost demand for end-consumer services, Zhou Nianli, a professor at the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told Yicai Global. So overall trade in knowledge-intensive services is now in the ascension, he said.

Knowledge-intensive services generally cover the sectors of finance, education, intellectual property royalties, as well as telecoms, computer, and information services, Zhou said.

According to data from the commerce ministry, during the January to August period, knowledge-intensive service exports grew faster in personal, cultural, and recreational services; intellectual property royalties; and telecoms, computer, and information services, up 34.3 percent, 23.8 percent, and 20.6 percent, respectively.

Knowledge-intensive service imports saw rapid growth in intellectual property royalties, and telecoms, computer and information services, rising 14.5 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively.

Zhou said that cross-border e-commerce is a specific manifestation of the digital transformation of traditional trade. In the past, cross-border trade in services accounted for no more than 30 percent of the world’s total trade in services, but now that figure is rising.

The pandemic has changed people’s spending habits across the globe, with consumption in many countries gradually shifting online, so the market for cross-border e-commerce will become even bigger in the future, according to Wang Xin, executive chairman of the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association.

In the first eight months of this year, China’s service trade went up 9.4 percent year on year to top CNY3.27 trillion, of which service exports reached about CNY1.55 trillion, a 25.3 percent annual gain, the ministry’s data showed. Service imports stood at CNY1.72 trillion, down 1.8 percent on the year.

Editor: Peter Thomas