China's trade in services maintained stable growth during the first seven months, growing 8.1 percent year-on-year to about 3.67 trillion yuan ($503 billion) in total value, said the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

Services exports declined 6.3 percent year-on-year to some 1.54 trillion yuan, while services imports stood at nearly 2.13 trillion yuan, up 21.6 percent from a year ago, with the services trade deficit standing at 589.9 billion yuan, the ministry said.

China's trade in knowledge-intensive services climbed 11.7 percent year-on-year during the period, standing at 158.38 billion yuan. The figure represents 43. 2 percent of total services trade in the January-July period, up 1.4 percentage points from a year ago, the ministry added.

During the period, services related to the travel sector registered a notable recovery. Total trade value in the sector surged 66.2 percent from a year earlier to over 768.1 billion yuan. Exports and imports of travel services expanded by 55.8 percent and 67 percent year-on-year, respectively.