China aims to expand its foreign trade by around 10 percent year on year in 2012, significantly slower than in 2011, as the country faces a "grim situation" in boosting its exports, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a forum held on January 14 in Beijing.

China will suffer from weak external demand, increasing trade competition and disputes, the appreciation of the renminbi and rising costs for domestic enterprises, Zhang said at the annual meeting of China's economy 2011-12 organized by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

China's foreign trade surged 22.5 percent in 2011 from a year earlier to reach $3.64 trillion, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The growth of China's foreign trade has slowed down over the past few months. Compared with January of 2011, year-on-year export growth in December was down by 24.3 percentage points to 13.4 percent and import growth down by 39.2 percentage points to 11.8 percent.