China's foreign trade to slow to 7% in Jan-Feb

Minister of Commerce Chen Deming gives a press conference on China's international trade and domestic consumption in Beijing, March 7, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's export and import growth is anticipated to slow to around 7 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year due to festival factors, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said Wednesday at a press conference held on the sidelines of the country's annual parliamentary session.

This year, the value of China's exports and imports is expected to grow by 10 percent from the year before, and China's trade surplus will decrease further, Premier Wen Jiabao in his annual work report to the National People's Congress on Monday.

The country plans to adopt a series of measures to sustain the increase in its exports this year. China will try to maintain its foreign trade policy - including its exports-tax rebate - and improve customs supervision and services, quality testing and its foreign exchange reserves. That will help exporters cope with difficulties such as an insufficient number of orders from elsewhere in the world, rising costs and growing trade frictions.

Chen that the imbalance of trade figures between China and the United States is questionable and "should be rethought," as the volume of China's overall trade surplus was far below that with the United States.

The passage of a bill by the US Senate to empower the Department of Commerce to impose countervailing duties on Chinese imports is not in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Chen said.

The minister's remarks at a press conference came after the US Senate on Monday passed a bill to empower the Department of Commerce to impose the controversial countervailing duties on imports from China and Vietnam.

The long-term regulation for intellectual patents will focus on online payment software and products in rural markets in the first quarter of this year, Chen noted.

It includes 12 measures, such as cracking down on fake products, lowering the threshold for intellectual property laws and legalizing intellectual property issues, Chen said.