Reliance on foreign trade seen declining

China's net exports contributed more to GDP growth in 2012 while the country's dependence on foreign trade declined, customs data showed Thursday, indicating the country's efforts to develop the economy toward less reliance on foreign trade are paying off.

The contribution of the country's net exports, or trade surplus, to GDP growth hit 9.6 percent in 2012, compared to a negative contribution from net exports in 2011, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement Thursday.

Meanwhile, the country's dependence on foreign trade, or the proportion of total foreign trade to GDP, dropped to 47 percent in 2012, down 3.1 percentage points from the previous year.

The country's dependence on foreign trade has declined continuously since 2006 when the figure stood at 67 percent, it said.

"It shows that the country's efforts to steer the economy away from excessive reliance on foreign trade are having an effect. To rely less on foreign trade does not mean exports are not going to grow," Jin Baisong, deputy director of the department of Chinese Trade and Studies at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times.