China's service trade volume jumped 11.9 percent year-on-year to 1.67 trillion yuan ($260.73 billion) in the first four months of this year, the Ministry of Commerce said.

Imports of trade in services surged 11.4 percent year-on-year to 1.11 trillion yuan between January and April this year, while its exports in service trade climbed 13 percent from same period a year earlier to 552.61 billion yuan.

The ministry said China's service trade continued the high growth momentum from January to April, with the growth rate reaching a new high so far this year.

The growth rate of service exports continued to be faster than that of imports, and the proportion of emerging service exports in total service exports exceeded 50 percent, according to the ministry.

Trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products, such as transportation, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.