Nation to see higher quality, lower growth in trade

 China lowered its annual target of trade growth to 7.5 percent in 2014 after the world's second-largest economy became the leading goods trader last year.

Meanwhile, the government has shifted its focus to improving the country's trade quality and boosting its exports amid a climate of rising costs at home and new rules coming from regional trade agreements.

"We will make it a strategic priority to upgrade exports and promote the balanced growth of foreign trade," Premier Li Keqiang said when delivering a government work report on Wednesday.

He added that total imports and exports are projected to grow at about 7.5 percent this year.

"We will keep export policies stable, accelerate reform to facilitate customs clearance and extend trials of cross-border e-commerce," said Li, adding that "We will implement policies to encourage imports and import more products in short supply in China."

Other goals include supporting businesses in "creating Chinese brands" and developing international marketing networks, he said.

In 2013, China's combined imports and exports rose 7.6 percent to $4.16 trillion, replacing the United States to become the world's biggest trader in merchandise for the first time, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

But the growth pace fell behind the 8 percent target outlined by the government early last year.

Foreign trade in 2012, with year-on-year growth of 6.2 percent, missed the 10 percent growth target for that year. But China's foreign trade maintained double-digit expansion in past decades except for financial crisis-hit 2009.