BEIJING, Oct. 28  -- China's foreign merchandise trade surplus fell in September, the country's forex regulator said Friday.

Income from merchandise trade stood at 178 billion U.S. dollars last month, while expenditure was 133.9 billion dollars, resulting in a surplus of 44 billion dollars, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

The September surplus was lower than 52.7 billion dollars in August and 50 billion dollars in July.

In terms of foreign service trade, China reported a deficit of 23.3 billion dollars in September, down from 25.4 billion dollars in August.

Distinct from merchandise trade, trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transport, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.

China's service trade volume grew from 362.4 billion dollars in 2010 to 713 billion dollars in 2015, doubling the average international growth speed in the sector.

The country is aiming to increase its service trade volume to over 1 trillion dollars by 2020.

The State Council has pledged measures to improve the development of services trade, including gradually opening up the finance, education, culture and medical sectors.

SAFE began releasing monthly data on service trade in January 2014, to improve the transparency of balance of payments statistics.