China's service trade value grew 8.5 percent year on year in the first six months of this year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed on Thursday.

Total trade value stood at 3.14 trillion yuan (about 439.19 billion U.S. dollars), according to the data.

Service exports declined 5.9 percent year on year to 1.32 trillion yuan, and service imports were 1.81 trillion yuan, up 22.1 percent from a year ago.

The service trade deficit stood at 489.4 billion yuan in the first half of the year, the data showed.