China likely to displace Germany as top exporter

Chinese officials and experts said they are not too concerned with the World Trade Organization prediction that China is set to overtake Germany as the biggest merchandise exporter this year.

Chen Rongkai, a division director of the Ministry of Commerce, told China Daily that China's exports in real terms surpassed Germany in 2008, but due to currency rate factor, Germany remained at the top slot last year.

"The ranking change is likely to happen, however, what I am more concerned is how the nation can optimize its export structure and increase the portion of high value-added commodities in the total export basket as soon as possible," Song Hong, senior professor with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told China Daily.