Economy

China to boost imports despite trade deficit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-19 19:43

BEIJING - China will stick to the policy of boosting imports despite the first quarterly trade deficit in six years, said Yao Jian, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, on Tuesday.

"Considering China's industrial scale and dependence on raw materials from the outside world, the country would probably keep importing ?resource products for quite some time," said Yao.

China saw a trade deficit of $1.02 billion from January to March this year, the first quarterly trade deficit in six years.

Yao attributed the deficit to accelerated imports of resource products in the first three months, saying such imports made Chinese industries vulnerable to global market fluctuations.

"We would not like to see a trade deficit caused by price changes and we need to pay attention to that," he said.

Aside from resource products, the country will increase imports of high-tech and environment-friendly products, consumer goods and agricultural products, he added.