An SF Express employee puts a parcel into a machine that can weigh and measure the parcel simultaneously at the CIFTIS. Photo: Courtesy of SF Express

The fast-growing services sector will provide new growth impetus to China, underpinning the world's second-largest economy amid downward pressure, said industry insiders and experts while attending the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).

At the 2023 CIFTIS, several hundred A-share listed companies brought their latest offerings in the services sector - telecommunications, computers and information, finance, culture and tourism, sports, supply chain and business, engineering consulting and construction, health and the environment, the Securities Times reported on Monday.

Companies showcased their innovation capabilities featuring the green and digital push. For instance, China Construction Bank demonstrated an assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that helps people find their ideal housing rental services and SF Express, a leading Chinese courier enterprise, presented for the first time its last-mile robot that helps couriers handle the last 100 meters of deliveries among multi-story buildings.

Amid a looming global economic recession, China's consumption sector has shown its resilience, industry insiders at CIFTIS said. A growing services industry also generates new jobs, promotes a technology-oriented transformation of the labor force, and boosts the demand of related sectors such as education and transportation.

They also noted that services trade has provided new advantages, momentum and areas for utilizing foreign capital, and the development of the services industry helps enhance the quality of the Chinese manufacturing sector.

Jane Yang, managing partner of Ernst & Young (EY) Beijing Office, told the Global Times on Monday that along with the continued recovery of catering, real estate and manufacturing, many segments of the services sectors are expected to see "explosive growth" in the second half of the year. 

"Logistics, technology consulting and AI are some of the sectors to witness strong demand," Yang said.

In the next phase, sectors such as technological innovation, the digital economy, medical care, vocational education and training, and financial services may become important venues for China to attract foreign investment and promote the development of China's services industry, noted Yang.

China's value-added services output went up 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2023, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed in July. The growth rate accelerated by 1 percentage point from the pace recorded in the first quarter. In comparison, during the same period, the total value-added of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 3.8 percent year-on-year.

Yang said that medical services, which stand to benefit from an increasing level of digitalization, and green catering services, which emphasize environmental responsibility and trackability, would likely become potential high-growth areas.

Denis Simon, president of the Alliance of Global Talent Organizations, told the Global Times on Monday at a CIFTIS sub-forum hosted by the Center for China and Globalization that there is great upside potential and China has still a way to go before it really becomes a globally integrated services economy and the "foreign business community is also very interested in becoming involved."

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that China's economy is undergoing a transformation from traditional trade in goods to services trade, and from a traditional exporter to an importer; and from a traditional world factory to a new economy featuring renewable energy, digitalization and photovoltaic products.