BEIJING — China's service trade fell during the first quarter of the year due to the novel coronavirus epidemic, but the trade structure has kept improving with a narrowing deficit, data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed on May 2.

Service trade totaled 1.15 trillion yuan (about $164.6 billion) during the period, down 10.8 percent year-on-year, the MOC said in an online statement.

Service exports amounted to 444.28 billion yuan during the first quarter, down 4.1 percent, while imports fell 14.5 percent year-on-year to 708.02 billion yuan.

The service trade deficit stood at 263.74 billion yuan during the period, compared with a deficit of 365 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2019.

The ministry highlighted strong resilience in China's trade of knowledge-intensive services amid the epidemic, which jumped 7.8 percent year-on-year.

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