Services imports surge 230 times as nation shifts

The value of China’s services imports surged 230 times in 2017 compared with 1982, making it the second-largest services importer in the world, figures from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) showed on Tuesday.

The statistics were revealed in a MOFCOM report released during the China International Import Expo (CIIE), China’s first national-level import exhibition.

According to the report, in 2017, China’s services imports were valued at about $468 billion, up 3.4 percent on a yearly basis and compared with just $2.02 billion in 1982, when China was at an early stage of its reform and opening-up policy.

By the end of last year, China was the second-largest services importer in the world after the US, with Beijing’s services imports accounting for 9 percent of the global total.

A People’s Daily report on Monday showed that China’s services imports grew by an annual average of 18.1 percent from 1978 to 2017.

Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said that China’s rising scale of services imports reflects higher spending power, as tourism constitutes a big portion of services imports. The increase also shows Chinese companies’ rising participation in global financial activity, which leads to services being provided by overseas financial institutions.

China’s services sector used $95.4 billion in foreign capital in 2017, up by 63.5 percent compared with 2012, the MOFCOM report noted.

The figures were revealed as China seeks to balance its trade structure in response to complaints by some countries, like the US and India, about their trade deficits with China.

During the first nine months of 2018, China imported $123 billion worth of goods from the US while it exported $349 billion to the US, customs data showed.

Tu said that it’s very hard for China to achieve balanced trade just by raising services imports as the scale of such trade is relatively small compared with merchandise trade.

He suggested that domestic and overseas companies should expand cooperation to unleash the potential of the services trade.

“For instance, the US has too many restrictions on intellectual property rights and trademark exports, a sector that can contribute much to China’s services imports from the US.

“I think the US should make good use of its advantages in services and open up more to China in this sector, rather than just complaining about China’s large merchandise trade, which has also been China’s advantage,” he said.

There’s also a section of the CIIE offering overseas services, with about 450 overseas companies setting up booths.