Southern China's island province of Hainan has continued to see rapid growth in service imports and exports over the past eleven months, according to the Department of Commerce of Hainan Province, with total trade volume hitting RMB 31.837 billion (about USD 4.58 billion), a year-on-year increase of 26.54%. This is the first time that Hainan’s trade in services has surpassed RMB 30 billion.

Aerial view of Yangpu International Container Terminal in China's southern island province of Hainan. (Photo / Chen Yuancai)

Official statistics show that during the period, the province saw a huge increase in service exports which hit RMB 16.358 billion, up 119.36% year-on-year, leading to a service trade surplus of RMB 879 million.

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 RMB 12.646 billion, a 4.27 times increase year-on-year, accounting for 39.72% 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 Co., Ltd., which has managed to receive forex commissions while running offshore trade in commodities.

In addition, trade in services in the transportation and processing sectors has continued to achieve good growth, with the average monthly trade volume in processing exceeding RMB 100 million over the past eleven months, amounting to RMB 1.215 billion in total.

Since China issued the 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, accelerating the building of a demonstration base for service exports and attracting more enterprises to do business on the island.