Challenges remain for foreign trade: MOFCOM

China's foreign trade will face some difficulties and challenges in 2018, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Monday in a report outlining the growth prospects for foreign trade in 2017 and 2018.

Although the world economy is recovering, structural issues persist, such as low salary growth, relatively weak employment levels and fragile growth momentum, the report said.

Global trade and investment is still at a weak level, with cross-border investment volume in 2016 lagging far behind the peak volume of 2007, noted the report. And trade protectionism, a widening gap between rich and poor, the current wave of anti-globalization sentiment, and slow progress in multilateral trade talks threaten the recovery process for the global economy.

China, the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer, has been the largest victim of global trade friction, affecting both its labor-intensive products and capital-intensive products such as steel, the report said.

Chinese exporting firms will face a tougher battle in competing for a share of global markets as manufacturing has been emphasized in recent years by developed countries, who now want a bigger share of exports in the global.

Some multinationals have chosen to relocate their production capacities from China to other emerging economies and this will damage China's processing trade, the report said.

Despite these difficulties, the report still maintained that China in 2018 will continue its progress toward higher quality trade as well as upgrading its industries and pushing the development of markets along the Belt and Road route.