In the "harsh and complicated" international trade environment, China is facing many uncertainties and may not meet its set target of an annual foreign trade growth for this year, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Shen Danyang told reporters at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

China targets this year's foreign trade growth at around 10 percent. But custom statistics show that China's export revenues have grossed US$3161.57 billion over the past ten months, increasing by 6.3 percent from that of the same period of last year. At the same time, the nation's import revenues increased by 4.6 percent to US$1490.67 billion, Shen said.

From January to October, China's bilateral trade with its top four trade partners took different directions. The country saw its bilateral trade volumes with the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) went up by 9.1 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively, while those with the European Union and Japan slid down by 3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

"Due to declining external demands, it is very difficult [for China] to meet the previously planned growth target of 10 percent. And it is very hard to calculate what growth rate China will actually achieve for a whole year," Shen said.

"But we will try our best and employ our every means to maintain a steady growth in foreign trade, to increase China's share in the international trade market, and to ensure a continuous growth of China's imports as well," he said.

In the mean time, the spokesman noted some positive signs in the country's foreign trade this year. He said China has made "significant progress in escalating the growth mode change." "More notably, this year China is likely to see its share in the international market grow from last year's 10 percent," he added.

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