Euro hurts China's export

Euro hurts China's export

BEIJING (Dow Jones): The faltering debut of the euro has dragged down China's exports to the European Union this year, the official China Daily Business Weekly reported on Sunday.

China's sales to E.U. countries fell 2.1 percent in the first four months of 1999, compared with 18.1 percent growth for all of last year, the paper said, citing Chinese customs statistics. The newspaper didn't specify the previous comparative periods.

The euro lost roughly 10 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar in the four months after its debut on January 1, 1999. This weakened the ability of E.U. countries to purchase goods from China, whose currency - the yuan - is tied to the U.S. dollar.

The euro's fall against the dollar "has put heavy pressure on China's exports" to the European Union, the paper quoted China's vice-minister of foreign trade, Sun Zhengyu, as saying.