China stressed on May 12th, that stabilizing external demand was key to maintaining growth as new figures showed that foreign trade was still shrinking.

Exports fell 22.6% in April from a year earlier to USD91.94billion. Imports were down 23% to USD 78.8 billion, the General Administration of Customs said on May 12th. The trade surplus was USD13.14 billion, smaller than the USD18.56 billion for March.

The Ministry of Commerce said that sluggish external demand, which had a significant bearing on stabilizing exports and employ-ment, could deter domestic investment and consumption for a long period.

Although export declines had slowed when calculated on that basis, the figure didn't indicate an external demand rebound, Zhang Yansheng, director of the institute of foreign trade of the National Development and Reform Commission said.

However, if consumption and exports didn't rise in tandem, the excess capacity produced by soaring investment would exacerbate economic imbalances, said the ministry.

Although there were positive signs, there was little room for optimism on the export front, as foreign buyers had cut back orders everywhere.