China's foreign trade volume will hit US$2.8 trillion, and the trade surplus will drop to US$180 billion at the end of this year, Zhong Shan, vice-minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said at an economic summit held on Sunday, Securities Daily reported.

Zhong said that it will be the second consecutive year that China's trade surplus will see a drop after it hit a historic peak of US$300 billion in 2008. But he also said that foreign trade volume will rise by about US$600 billion to US$2.8 trillion at the end of 2010. China became the world's No 1 exporter in 2009, surpassing Germany.

However, the country's major exports were low-end products, and trade was unsustainable and unbalanced, according to the report. European countries, the United States and Japan accounted for almost half of China's export volume, and trade in goods took up 88 percent of the country's total exports, Zhong said.

(chinadaily.com.cn November 8, 2010)