Foreign trade faces challenges in 2013 (2)

"The world economy is slowly recovering at a low growth rate with the economies of the European Union and Japan struggling, which weakened demand for Chinese exports. In addition, domestic costs keep rising amid a shrinking labor force," Li said.

He added that China's foreign trade growth in 2013 will "still be single digit" following the 6.2 percent expansion in 2012.

"More unfavorable factors are the quantitative easing or currency depreciation moves in developed economies, which will force renminbi appreciation, while increasing Chinese exporters' costs and curtailing their competitiveness," Li said.

Shen from the ministry said that currency depreciation or quantitative easing measures not only dent China's foreign trade, but also harm global commerce.

Zhuang Jian, a senior economist with the Asian Development Bank, called for more value-added exports and a diversification of export destinations.

"We have to significantly enhance the competitiveness of Chinese exports through technological innovation and increasing added value rather than relying on low costs. In addition, exports to Africa, Latin America and Asia, where Chinese products remain popular, can be expanded, while the EU and the US are not performing well," Zhuang said.

He predicted that China's foreign trade will be slightly better than last year.

Zhuang added that trade protectionism will increase if measures to boost growth do not work well in major economies and thus take their toll on China's trade environment.

The US Department of Commerce announced on Jan 17 that it was launching countervailing duty investigations on frozen warm-water shrimp from China and another six countries, the first probe into Chinese agricultural products. The department has already imposed anti-dumping duty orders on frozen warm-water shrimp from Brazil, China, India, Thailand and Vietnam for eight years.

"Without recognizing China as a market economy, the US anti-dumping and countervailing investigations, with no sufficient evidence, violate world trade rules and its own federal laws," Shen said.

"We hope the US prudently handles the case and avoids harming bilateral trade and agricultural cooperation."