Topic “China” — Exporter Magazine

China is expected to overtake the United States to become the world’s largest diamond-consuming country in 2016, according to Xinhua News, quoting Ari Epstein, chief executive officer of Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC). China’s reliance on foreign trade dropped to 50.1 percent in 2011, indicating that the economy is transferring to a more inner-led growth mode, according to a ChinaDaily report. Ireland is expected to sign a number of “door-opening” agreements with China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping this weekend to boost trade between the two countries, according to Belfast Telegraph. China trade has suffered its biggest decline in January since the 2008 financial crisis – a new sign of weak global demand and a slowing domestic economy, according to the Guardian UK, citing an Associated Press report. China’s economy expanded by 9.2 percent in 2011 from a year earlier and 8.9 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, according to ChinaDaily.com. Forecasts are for a GDP growth around 8.5 per cent in 2012.