China's exporters feel the pain of shoppers in Europe, U.S.

Overseas demand for Chinese goods remains shaky - official

* Orders likely to slow, and some Christmas orders may be cut -execs

* Rising yuan will hit exporters

* But heavy machinery makers still optimistic

* Expected fall in exports will not be as bad as 2008 -economists

By Sui-Lee Wee

BEIJING, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Chinese exporters are bracing for bad news as shoppers in their two biggest markets -- Europe and the U.S. -- increasingly stay at home.

A week after surprisingly strong export data for July, interviews with 16 Chinese manufacturers showed that most expect a slump in exports in the coming months, particularly for textiles and electronics.

"Right now with Europe's debt crisis, people are making less, and they will have to buy less too. That will have a big impact on our business," said Roger Wen, manager of the Shenzhen Design Center Co, which exports small home appliances such as microwaves and coffee makers.

"Christmas orders have already come in and they aren't bad, about the same as last year. But I'm not sure all the orders will go through in the end," he said. "When we get to September and October, who knows if they'll still want the shipments. They might cancel."

Li Rongcan, assistant minister of commerce, warned that overseas demand for Chinese goods remains shaky in the face of debt problems in the United States and the European Union, the China Daily newspaper quoted him as saying.

Many Chinese managers agree.

"New orders will probably contract in coming months," said Kevin Hou, president of Beijing Pumson International Co., a home radiator exporting business that ships around 50 percent of its products to Europe.

"I'm expecting about a 10 percent contraction across the industry," he said. The company's orders are already down about 5 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

RISING YUAN

Any slowdown in orders would come at a bad time for China's exporters, who are already grappling with rising labour and raw material costs and a gradually appreciating yuan.

Speculation is growing that Beijing may be engineering a "mini-revaluation" of the currency, which would make Chinese shipments of electronics and apparel more expensive, but help boost domestic consumer spending by making imports cheaper.