China's foreign trade growth rate to slow down this year: MOC report

BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade growth rate may fall slightly this year from last year, said a report issued by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Friday.

The growth of imports might exceed exports due to climbing domestic demand, policies to expand imports and soaring prices of commodities, according to a report on China's foreign trade in 2010 and in the first quarter of this year.

China's foreign trade rebounded last year to pre-global economic crisis levels and set an historic record, the report said.

In the first quarter, China's foreign trade maintained a quick growth momentum with an improving trade balance, the report said.

China's foreign trade surged 29.5 percent to 800.3 billion U.S. dollars, with a trade deficit of 1 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter.

China's foreign trade last year jumped 34.7 percent year-on-year to more than 2.97 trillion U.S. dollars, while its trade surplus fell 6.4 percent to 183.1 billion U.S. dollars.