By Xu Hongqiang, Research Team on “The Strategy for the Enhancement of China’s Competitiveness of Service Trade”, Research Department of Foreign Economic Relations, DRC

Research Report, No.212, 2019 (Total 5712) 2019-12-2

Abstract: Producer service trade refers to the cross-border transactions of producer services. In spite of the fast growth of China’s producer service industry, there are still some weak links to be bolstered such as the relatively weak overall competitiveness, the limited scale, the irrational internal structure and the sluggish institutional reform. The continuous growth of China’s producer service trade scale has not reversed the long-term trade deficit; the newly-emerged and high-end industries account for only a small part with a relatively weak competitiveness whereas traditional industries still play a dominant role; the overall competitiveness of the enterprises involved in producer service trade is yet to be promoted. The inadequate integration between service and manufacturing industries and the shortage of specialized personnel have constrained the development of producer service trade. Efforts need to be made and focused on relevant producer service trade sectors mainly including the R&D designing, IT service, e-commerce, the third-party logistics and inspection, testing and certification. Work also needs to be done to expand the import of advanced producer services so as to make up for the weak links of relevant domestic industries.

Key words: producer service industry, producer service trade, competitiveness