CHINA'S trade growth will moderate sharply in the second half of this year due to the European sovereign debt crisis and revised policies of tax rebate for exports, a government report said yesterday.

Trade growth will slow down quarter after quarter, with exports increasing 16.3 percent on an annual basis in the second half, and imports advancing 19.3 percent, according to a forecast in the latest report by the State Information Center, a unit under the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.

It contrasted with the expansion of 35.2 percent for exports in the first half, and a 52.7 percent imports surge in the January-June period.

"The fading effect of a low comparative base, sapped global demand due to the debt crisis in Europe and less tax rebate for exports will rapidly slow down the growth rate," the report claimed.

China's trade has recovered to the 2008 level prior to the outbreak of the global financial crisis. Compared with then, it has demonstrated strength in less trade surplus and more diversified destinations of traded goods.

In the first half, China's trade surplus fell 42.5 percent from a year earlier to US$55.3 billion. In March, China even reported a trade deficit after a strong jump in imports put the exports growth to shade.

China's gross domestic product grew 10.3 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter, moderating from a surge of 11.9 percent in the first three months.