China’s trade in services grew rapidly in the first nine months of this year, including a sharp increase in trade in travel-related services, according to official data released by China’s Ministry of Commerce.

China’s total trade in services reached about 5.52 trillion yuan (about $777.29 billion) between January and September, up 14.5 per cent year-on-year, Xinhua news agency reported.

Trade in travel-related services rose 42.8 per cent to more than 1.5 trillion yuan, and trade in knowledge-intensive services increased 5.3 per cent to 2.13 trillion yuan.