Chinese minister warns of grim trade situation

Chinese minister warns of grim trade situation

 BEIJING, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on Saturday warned of lingering pressure on the country's foreign trade from weak global demand, rising domestic costs and growing trade protectionism.

"The trade situation will be relatively¹ grim in the next few months and there will be many difficulties next year," Chen told reporters at a group interview on the sidelines of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opened Thursday.

China's exports rose 11.6 percent from one year earlier in October, beating market expectations for a rise of 9 percent and stronger than the 9.9-percent increase registered in September, according to latest figures from the General Administration of Customs.

Imports climbed 2.4 percent year on year last month, unchanged from the growth in September.

Despite the recovering export growth, China's total foreign trade in the first 10 months only expanded 6.3 percent from the same period of last year.

It will be an arduous² task to achieve the annual trade growth target of 10 percent but authorities will continue to work to that end, said Chen.

He cited lack of fundamental improvements in global demand, rising production costs for Chinese labor-intensive industries and stronger protectionism sentiment as the main factors dragging down exports.

Meanwhile, China's import growth remains³ tepid⁴ mainly because of lower commodity prices on the global market, said Chen.

1 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

2 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。