China faces harsher export situation in 2012

BEIJING - China is facing an even more severe export situation featuring withered demand and harsher competition this year, Deputy Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said Monday.

Zhong said other major exporters will continue providing strong competition for China, and some developing countries are capturing market share in labor-intensive industries as domestic labor costs rise in China.

Statistics showed that China's export products to the United States, European Union and Japan had dropped by 1.3 percentage points, 1 percentage point and 0.6 percentage points respectively in terms of market share since the third quarter in 2011.

Zhong said the decline of market share had hit producers of the country's seven major varieties of labor-intensive products: textiles, apparel, shoes, cases, furniture, toys and plastic products.

Trade frictions involving China have also aggravated the situation since 2011, negatively impacting upon even new, less labor-intensive industries such as communication and the photovoltaic sector, he added.