BEIJING, Aug 18: China is on track to overtake the US as world’s second-largest exporter this year, Xinhua news agency quoted a senior official as saying on Saturday, and could top Germany as world’s leading exporter next year.

Vice Minister of Commerce Yu Guangzhou told the China Economic Development Forum that China currently ranks third in export volume after Germany and the US. He said Beijing could overtake the US by the year-end if current trade trends continue, Xinhua reported.

In 2006, China’s export volume trailed US exports by less than $70 billion, while the pace of export growth was seven percentage points faster than that of the US.

If that growth continues, China’s exports could exceed US exports by $50 billion this year, Yu said.

However, Beijing’s national safety watchdog has warned that China’s failure to improve quality of some of its exported goods was undermining its trade strength.

“We may have entered the ranks of the big traders, but we’re still far, far from being a strong trade power, and the fundamental reason is that our product quality competitiveness is not strong,” Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration for Quality Supervision and Quarantine, was quoted as saying by the official People’s Daily on Thursday.

In terms of total foreign trade volume, China may surpass Germany to become the world’s No.2 this year or next, with only the US ahead, according to the Xinhua report.Customs statistics show that China’s foreign trade volume reached $980.9 billion in January-June, up 23.3 per cent from the same period a year ago.

Of this, exports grew 27.6 per cent to $546.7 billion, and imports grew 18.2 per cent to $434.2 billion.—Reuters