China on track to meet trade goal

China is confident it will achieve its annual trade target this year, and it hopes to expand trade with South Asian countries, which have seen average annual growth of 26 percent for more than a decade, a vice minister of commerce said Tuesday.

"From the beginning of the year, foreign trade has grown at a double-digit rate, signaling good growth momentum," Vice-Minister of Commerce Li Jinzao said a press conference on promoting trade between China and South Asian countries.

According to Li, a survey by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of 1,900 foreign-trade-oriented companies across China showed that a total of 38.7 percent of enterprises saw larger transaction value from export orders in March than in February, exceeding 35 percent for the first time since April 2012.

Despite difficulties, transaction value is gradually picking up and companies are confident, Li said. He indicated that the ministry expects this year's trade to see good results.

Li's remarks came after the spring session of the Canton Fair closed Sunday. China's largest trade fair saw a decline of sales volume from a year earlier but a rise from the last session.

Sales volume at the biannual event reached $35.54 billion, down 1.4 percent from the previous year but up 8.8 percent from the last session.

"Based on the result from the spring session of the Canton Fair, demand from the US market was obviously bigger than last year and demand from emerging markets such as Latin American countries was also very strong," the Bank of Communications said in a research note released Thursday.

"The US economy will continue to improve from the second quarter of the year. The domestic and external environments for China's foreign trade are better than last year, so exports and imports will grow steadily in 2013 and be slightly better than last year," the note said.

China targets an annual foreign trade growth of around 8 percent in 2013 after it reported a 6.2 percent growth in 2012, missing its target of 10 percent.

As for China's trade with South Asian countries, Li said China should further improve the trade structure and import more from the region in order to narrow the trade surplus.

"China's trade with South Asian countries is relatively weak with a lot of untapped potential. Poor trade infrastructure such as roads, ports and communications in Southeast Asian countries is a major obstruction," Zhao Yumin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times Tuesday.

"Besides buying more products from Southeast Asian countries, Chinese companies should also invest more in the region in sectors such as manufacturing and agricultural sectors in order to develop more trade opportunities," Zhao said.

China's trade with Southeast Asian countries grew to $93 billion in 2012 from $5.7 billion in 2000, with an annual average growth of 26 percent, data from MOFCOM showed.