Economic woes hit processing sector

BEIJING -- Global economic woes will cause grim and complicated conditions for China's processing trade in the second half of 2012, a senior official predicted on Tuesday while announcing details of a fair for members of the sector.

Waning demand from other major economies and the simmering eurozone debt crisis are the main factors weighing on China's processing trade, which is vulnerable to a slowdown in external demand, Jiang Yaoping, vice minister of commerce, said in Beijing at a news conference about the China Processing Trade Products Fair.

The event, the first of its kind, is scheduled to run from September 16 to 19 in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong province. It will aim to create a platform to help export companies shift more focus to China's domestic market.

The exports and imports of China's processing trade totaled $753.21 billion in the first seven months this year, up 3.1 percent year-on-year. However, in July alone, exports for processing trade fell 5.6 percent over a year earlier while imports edged up 0.2 percent.