China's service trade totaled 4.44 trillion yuan ($629.8 billion) in the first 10 months of this year, up 2.6 percent year on year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on December 5.

Service exports increased by 9 percent year on year to 1.58 trillion yuan ($224 billion), while imports came in at 2.86 trillion yuan ($406 billion), down 0.7 percent from a year ago, said the MOC.

The service trade deficit stood at 1.28 trillion yuan ($182 billion) in the period, dipping by 10.4 percentage points year on year.

The MOC data also showed China's trade of knowledge-intensive services maintained rapid expansion, increasing by 10.7 percent year on year to 1.51 trillion yuan ($214 billion).

Exports of knowledge-intensive services grew by 13 percent to 796 billion yuan ($113 billion), while imports grew by 8.2 percent to 717.6 billion yuan ($102 billion).

In contrast to merchandise trade, trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transportation, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.