China's annual overseas service trade exceeded 100 billion US dollars in 2003, according to a latest government report.

China has become the world's ninth largest country in terms of service trade. It was also the first time the nation saw its ranking in global service trade enter the top ten, according to the newly released report on China's foreign trade by the Ministry of Commerce.

China's overseas service trade totaled 102 billion US dollars last year. Its service trade export in 2003 reached 46.7 billion US dollars, up 18 percent from the pervious year. The figure accounted for 2.7 percent of the world's total and made the country the largest service trade exporter in developing countries,the report said.

China's service trade import in the same year reached 55.3 billion US dollars, up 19 percent from a year earlier. That figureaccounted for 3.2 percent of the world's total service trade import and ranked the country the largest importer of service trade among developing countries.

All in all, China is now the ninth largest exporter and the eighth largest importer of service trade in the world, according to the report.