Import growth narrows May trade surplus

Surplus remains high 

So far this year, China's trade surplus has decreased by 35.1 percent to $22.9 billion, with exports rising by 25.5 percent to $712.3 billion and imports up by 29.4 percent to $689.4 billion. 

"We expect both export and import growth to slow down in the rest of the year," said Wang. 

However, the monthly trade surplus will remain relatively high, she said. 

As the nation's inflation rate remained at about 5 percent during the first four months of this year, the Chinese government has taken steps including raising the interest rate and required reserve ratio to cool the economy and to curb the bubbles in the property market. The moves are believed to have decreased the demand for commodities. 

Sources said a forum aiming to expand imports will be held this month, and some relative measures will be taken later. 

"Efforts on stimulating imports cannot take off until the end of this year," said Zhou Shijian, senior trade expert from Tsinghua University. 

China's exports to developed regions decelerated in May. Outbound shipments to the US increased by a modest 7.2 percent year-on-year, compared with growth of 25 percent in April. For the EU, the nation's exports gained by 13.2 percent, less than half of the rate recorded in April. 

But experts said export growth will remain comparatively stable in the months ahead considering the coming new wave of orders from overseas for the Christmas holiday.