The Chinese foreign trade share in international markets looks poised to increase, said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang.

Also, notable progress has been made in accelerating change in the country's foreign trade growth pattern and structure. The growth of machinery and electronic product exports has been higher than average export growth since the beginning of this year, while hi-tech import and export growth has continued to rebound. The share of hi-tech products in China's foreign trade from January to October was 0.3 percentage points higher than in the same period last year.

At a press conference on November 20, Shen dwelled upon issues such as China's foreign trade and domestic consumer market conditions during the first 10 months this year.

Slow trade growth

Customs statistics showed the value of China's imports and exports totaled more than $3.16 trillion from January to October, up 6.3 percent year on year. Of these, exports reached $1.67 trillion, up 7.8 percent, whereas imports amounted to $1.49 trillion, up 4.6 percent, posting a trade surplus of $180.2 billion, up 45.6 percent from a year earlier.

The grim international economic situation has caused much uncertainty, Shen said, adding that sluggish external demand remains the most daunting challenge. China's trade with its four largest trading partners from January to October was as follows: China-U.S. trade up 9.1 percent, China-ASEAN trade up 9.4 percent, China-EU trade down 3 percent and China-Japan trade down 2.1 percent. Drastic decline in trade with Japan and the EU has led to slow growth in China's overall foreign trade.

"Compared with foreign trade growth in other major economies and the world at large, China's growth is still remarkable," Shen said. Recent World Trade Organization estimates showed global trade growth may stand at only 2.5 percent this year. China, however, achieved a 6.3 percent trade and a 7.8 percent export increase in the first 10 months. Moreover, it has made notable progress in hastening change in its trade growth pattern and trade mix.

China's foreign trade share, which hit 10.4 percent last year, is likely to climb even further, Shen said. The country's foreign trade growth is still notably faster than that of other major players. From January to September, import and export activities in the United States and Japan rose 4.4 percent and 2.9 percent respectively. From January to July, those of Germany, France and Italy dropped 4.9 percent, 5 percent and 9.5 percent in turn. Among emerging markets, Russia witnessed a trade increase of 3.5 percent from January to September.

While he said it is difficult to predict China's foreign trade growth rate for the whole year, Shen promised that the Chinese Government will make every effort to stabilize conditions and, in particular, to bolster China's share in global trade.

Rapid rise of machinery exports

The export of machinery, electronic and hi-tech products underwent major adjustments in the first 10 months this year, Shen said.

First, the growth of machinery and electronic product exports from January to October increased 8.5 percent year on year, 0.7 percentage points higher than China's average export growth.

Second, the export value of certain products such as train locomotives skyrocketed. From January to September, China exported nearly 12,000 locomotives at $2.37 billion, up 75.2 percent and 97 percent year on year respectively. China's export of integrated circuits doubled that of a year earlier for three months in a row. From January to October, the export volume of integrated circuits rose 22.6 percent, while export value soared 53 percent to reach $39.68 billion. In August, September and October in particular, annual growth exceeded 100 percent.

Third, the import of machinery and electronic products made a turnaround, increasing 3.1 percent from January to October, 1.5 percentage points lower than average. However, it remained on an upward spiral for five consecutive months.

Fourth, the growth of hi-tech product imports and exports continued to bounce back with trade from January to October increasing 7.2 percent over the same period last year. These products accounted for 28.1 percent of China's total foreign trade, up 0.3 percentage points against a year earlier.

Finally, China's processing sector trade hit a record high, raw material imports recovering in September by increasing 5.3 percent before going up another 7.3 percent in October. "Some people are pessimistic about exports in the last two months this year," Shen said. "Judging from these figures, however, trade during this time, especially in the processing industry, will undergo a sizable increase."

Domestic consumption boom

The domestic consumer market showed a steady rebound. Retail sales of consumer goods hit a record high after seven months in October, totaling more than 1.89 trillion yuan ($304 million), up 14.5 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. It was the third consecutive month in which the index rose.

From January to October, retail sales of consumer goods reached more than 16.8 trillion yuan ($2.7 trillion), up 14.1 percent year on year and 11.8 percent after inflation adjustment, 0.6 percentage points higher than growth during the same period last year.

Urban consumption picked up slowly, increasing 14.5 percent in October, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month and 1.4 percentage points from July and August when growth hit a low.

The sales figures of large and medium-sized goods distributors grew by a small margin. In October, sales among 3,000 key retail companies monitored by the Ministry of Commerce increased 8.5 percent, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous month.

The sales of cars, furniture and building materials increased by 9.9 percent, 7.6 percent and 10.5 percent in October, up 3.8 percentage points, 3.2 percentage points and 4 percentage points from a month earlier.