Trade in services set for boom

THE ARTICLES ON THESE PAGES ARE PRODUCED BY CHINA DAILY, WHICH TAKES SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS

A visitor (left) tries out GTVerse, a business-to-consumer mixed reality social network platform, at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on 1 September 2022 (ZHANG WEI / CHINA DAILY)

Compared with manufacturing and agriculture, the services sector has probably never had it so good: its prominence in GDP is growing, the number of services of various kinds is ever expanding, and trade in services is ballooning, as has been highlighted by the six-day 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services that opened in Beijing on August 31.

More evidence of the growing significance and vibrancy of trade in services can be found in an office building in West Coast New Area of Qingdao, Shandong province. Here, a group of Chinese and Romanians from the translation centre of MCC Beris Engineering and Research Corp create the Romanian version of a popular Chinese TV series. Their creation will be broadcast on a channel owned by TVR, Romania’s public television service, later this year.

“We also provide Chinese films, TV series and variety shows in more than a dozen languages, including English, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Malay, to TV stations and new media platforms in more than 195 countries and regions,” said Zhao Zhonghui, director of the translation centre in Qingdao.

A boy plays Chinese chess with an artificial intelligence-featured robot at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing. (ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY )

With the added value of the services sector growing fast and accounting for 53 per cent of China’s GDP  in 2021, the government’s efforts to bolster new formats of foreign trade, conduct policy trials at its pilot free-trade zones and attract foreign businesses have all given impetus to the growth of trade in services to exceed that of trade in goods in the first half of 2022, said Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the academic committee of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing.

In contrast with merchandise trade, trade in services refers to buying and selling services. According to the World Trade Organisation’s definition, trade in services covers 12 major sectors. These include commerce, communication, construction and related engineering, finance, entertainment, culture, sports, tourism, education and environment.

Powered by continuous opening-up, the stable recovery of the services sector and digitalisation of trade in services, the value of China’s trade in services rose 20.7 per cent year-on-year to 3.39 trillion yuan (£423 billion) in the first seven months, the Ministry of Commerce said.

The country’s trade of knowledge-intensive services continued to grow steadily, rising 10.2 per cent year-on-year to about 1.42 trillion yuan (£177 billion).

Chen Bin, executive vice-president of the China Machinery Industry Federation in Beijing, said many developed economies, encouraged by their growth, were willing to invest more in trade in services, after securing some market share in the global goods trade.

In the manufacturing of many multinational corporations such as Apple Inc of the US, the added value accounts for less than 40 per cent of the selling price, indicating more than 60 per cent of the added value is generated by services, Chen said.

Many Chinese companies have built service and marketing networks overseas that provide warehouse, maintenance and after-sales services, he said.

Companies made the most of this year’s China International Fair for Trade in Services, which focused on opening-up and collaboration in trade in services, green development and digitalisation. The fair attracted 71 countries and international organisations, as well as more than 1,400 companies, including more than 400 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry-leading entities.

The event saw 1,339 deals clinched, including 513 commercial transactions, 175 investment agreements and 173 releases of new product and service solutions, according to the fair’s organising committee.