China’s exports to slow next year, trade balance to narrow

Chinese officials expect the country's exports to slow next year and trade surplus to narrow as the government comes under pressure to increase its imports.

China’s foreign trade is estimated to grow at 10 percent in 2011 compared with 30 percent growth this year, said a China Daily report citing Huo Jianguo, an official with a research academy at the Ministry of Finance.

The Chinese government will step up efforts to raise imports to narrow trade surplus amid growing criticism from the US and Europe, said the report quoting Commerce Minister Chen Deming.

China will pay more attention to boosting imports to help balance foreign trade, while the nation aims to stabilize exports and grow its share in the global market, Chen said.

The US and Europe have been criticizing China’s exchange rate policy, saying Beijing is keeping the yuan undervalued to boost exports.

Export from China rose 34.9 percent to $153.3 billion in November year-on-year and imports increased 38 percent to $130.4 billion, leaving a trade balance of $22.9 billion in November, according to the Chinese customs bureau. November trade surplus was 15 percent higher compared with the same month a year earlier.

With the US and Europe being the biggest trading partners the trade surplus with the countries in November stood at $16.8 billion and $13.6 billion respectively. The US trade deficit with China stood at $25.5 billion in October.

It is not easy to have the trade surplus controlled almost at the same level of last year while the trade volume has grown by big margins this year, Chen said.

In the January-November period, foreign trade of China increased 36.3 percent to $2.68 trillion year-on-year. However, trade surplus in the same period decreased by 3.9 percent to $170 billion.

A recent report from the Asian Development Bank said emerging East Asian economies will grow more than forecast this year but growth will slow in the region next year.

The bank said the world’s largest economy is showing signs of cooling as exports growth slowed due to weak demand. China’s growth is projected at 9.1 percent in 2011. It expects China to grow 10.1 percent this year.

Also, a report by the United Nations said that the global economic recovery had started losing momentum from mid-2010 and all the indicators point to weaker growth next year.