BEIJING - China's service trade is expected to show steady expansion this year, but the deficit in the sector is also increasing, official data showed Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the service trade value is expected to exceed $470 billion this year, up 13 percent year-on-year, or 10.8 percent of the nation's foreign trade, an increase of 0.5 percentage points.

In the first three quarters, service imports, excluding government services, rose 13.8 percent from the same period last year to $344.3 billion, while exports surged 19.2 percent to $207.2 billion.

The service industry deficit expanded to $70.1 billion from $45.15 billion. The transportation, tourism, insurance, patent and franchise service sectors saw the greatest deficit increases.

The lackluster global economy has sapped demand for Chinese goods. The MOC previously forecast that the nation's foreign trade would grow 6 percent year on year in 2012, below the annual trade growth target of 10 percent and the economic growth target of 7.5 percent.