Core Insights - The service trade is a crucial component of international trade, and accelerating its development is essential for expanding high-level openness and fostering new momentum for foreign trade [1] Group 1: Service Trade Performance - In the first half of the year, China's total service trade reached 38,872.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8%, with exports at 16,883 billion yuan (up 15.0%) and imports at 21,989.6 billion yuan (up 3.2%) [1] - Knowledge-intensive service trade grew by 6%, with telecommunications, computer, and information services reaching 5,293.8 billion yuan, marking a 12.7% increase [1][4] - The service trade deficit significantly narrowed year-on-year, indicating improved competitiveness in service trade, particularly in digital, tourism, and financial services [1][2] Group 2: Travel Services - Travel services emerged as the largest sector in service trade, with imports and exports totaling 10,802.9 billion yuan, a growth of 12.3%, where exports surged by 68.7% and imports increased by 5.5% [1][2] - The rapid growth in tourism services is attributed to the recovery of domestic and international personnel movement, gradual reopening of outbound tourism, and a notable rebound in inbound tourism [2] Group 3: Knowledge-Intensive Services - Knowledge-intensive service imports and exports totaled 15,025.4 billion yuan, accounting for 38.7% of total service trade, with telecommunications, computer, and information services leading the growth at 12.7% [4] - This sector is characterized by high added value and significant technological content, playing a key role in optimizing the service trade structure [4] Group 4: Policy and Future Outlook - Various measures have been introduced to enhance the service trade environment, including optimizing tax refund policies for inbound tourists and expanding the coverage of visa-free policies [2][3] - The Ministry of Commerce anticipates that by 2024, China's service trade will exceed 1 trillion USD, ranking second globally, with a projected 38% growth in knowledge-intensive service trade compared to 2020 [5] - The outlook for the second half of the year indicates both opportunities and challenges, with potential growth in digital trade and cross-border e-commerce, but also risks from global economic slowdown and rising protectionism [6]

Economic Growth and Trade - China's service trade showed a steady growth with a total import and export value of 32,543.6 billion RMB, marking a year-on-year increase of 7.7% in the first five months of 2025, with exports growing by 15.1% and imports by 2.7% [1] - Knowledge-intensive service imports and exports reached 12,492.7 billion RMB, growing by 5.0% [3] - Travel services continued to grow rapidly, with imports and exports reaching 9,200.5 billion RMB, an increase of 12.2%, making it the largest sector in service trade [5] Policy Support and Manufacturing - The main policies supporting technological innovation and high-quality development in manufacturing resulted in tax reductions and refunds amounting to 636.1 billion RMB in the first five months of 2025 [7] - High-tech industry sales revenue increased by 14.2%, significantly outpacing the overall national growth rate, while manufacturing sales revenue grew by 4.2% [8] Commodity Prices and Futures Market - The commodity price index in China rose to 110.8 points in June, reflecting a 0.5% month-on-month increase, indicating a recovery in production and business activities [10] - The futures market saw a cumulative trading volume of 4.076 billion contracts and a trading value of 339.73 trillion RMB in the first half of 2025, with year-on-year increases of 17.82% and 20.68% respectively [10] Renewable Energy Development - The Jiangsu Dafeng offshore wind power project, the farthest offshore wind project in China, has begun grid-connected power generation with a total installed capacity of 800 MW, capable of supplying over 2.6 billion kWh of clean electricity annually [13] International Trade and Logistics - The "Zheng He" international multimodal transport train service launched from Kunming, Yunnan, to Vientiane, Laos, with new routes to Thailand, Singapore, and Bangladesh, significantly reducing transportation distance and time [14][17]