China confident of achieving 10% foreign trade growth

BEIJING: Playing down concerns over declining trend in exports, China today said it is confident of achieving this year's target of 10 per cent growth in foreign trade.

In the first three months this year, China's exports rose 7.6 per cent from a year earlier.

"The growth rate was relatively low. It was a result of cumulative factors from both home and abroad," Commerce Ministry spokesperson Shen Danyang told reporters here.

The world's largest exporter suffered from weak external demand, increasing trade competition and disputes, and rising costs for domestic enterprises in the first quarter, Shen said.

Despite these difficulties, exports grew 7.6 per cent compared to last year.

"It was hard earned and better than expected," he said. He said weak growth in the US and the EU, China's two major export markets, reduced orders for many exporters.

Meanwhile, rising costs for domestic companies made Chinese exports more expensive and less competitive.

"Some orders, especially those of labour-intensive industries, were taken away by countries and regions in Southeast Asia," Shen said.

Rising trade protectionism also posed new challenges to Chinese exporters.

In the first quarter, foreign countries filed 16 trade remedy cases against China, up 180 per cent from a year earlier.

Those cases involved nearly USD 3 billion, more than double that in the same period last year, Xinhua quoted Shen as saying.

As for he said growth fell within a reasonable range but was slightly lower than market expectations.

Weak domestic demand, an anticipated deceleration of processing trade and falling commodity prices led to the slower import growth.

The ministry had actively worked to help exporters and importers, and it was confident that the growth would pick up in the second quarter and the full-year target would be achieved, Shen said.