Hainan's annual service imports, exports top 30b yuan for 1st time

Hainan has continued to see rapid growth in its service imports and exports over the past 11 months, with total trade volume hitting 31.84 billion yuan ($4.58 billion), a year-on-year increase of 26.54 percent, according to Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce. This is the first time that Hainan's trade in services has surpassed 30 billion yuan.

Official statistics show that during this period, the province saw a huge increase in service exports which hit 16.36 billion yuan, up 119.36 percent from the previous year, leading to a service trade surplus of 879 million yuan.

Productive services are a vital driving force for the growth of Hainan's trade in services, especially in the commercial service sector. From January to November, commercial service imports and exports alone brought in 12.65 billion yuan, which accounted for 39.72 percent of the total service trade.

Another boost for Hainan's service trade this year is forex commission services in offshore trade, represented by Sinopec Hainan Petrochemical, which has managed to receive forex commissions while running offshore trade in commodities.

Trade in services in the transportation and processing sectors have continued to achieve substantial growth, with the average monthly trade volume in processing exceeding 100 million yuan over the past 11 months, amounting to 1.22 billion in total.

Since China issued its master plan for the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) in June 2020, the island province has promoted high-standard opening-up and optimized industrial development in trade services. With the country's first negative list for cross-border service trades, which took effect in the FTP in August 2021, a total of 22 opening-up measures have been implemented.

According to a representative of the provincial department of commerce, the Hainan FTP will attach more importance to the development of digital trade by taking advantage of national and provincial service trade exhibitions. Hainan will accelerate the building of a demonstration base for service exports and attract more enterprises to do business on the island.