China's export and import growth is expected to edge up in May amid the spreading European debt crisis and the slow recovery of the US economy, according to a recent survey by Reuters of 22 economic analysts.

The survey said that exports will grow 6.8 percent year-on-year, while imports will rise 5.0 percent, yielding a trade surplus of $16.2 billion, a figure higher than in the same period last year.

China's exports expanded 4.9 percent year-on-year in April, and imports edged up 0.3 percent. Weak domestic demand lifted the trade surplus to $18.42 billion, according to China's General Administration of Customs.

Export prospects are expected to remain challenging in the next six months because the European debt crisis is not expected to be solved in the short term and the slow recovery of the US economy will probably continue, according to a report from the Financial Research Center of Bank of Communications. In addition to sluggish overseas demand, exporters are confronted with cost rises and currency appreciation at home, the report said.

Meanwhile, the National Development and Reform Commission said at the end of May that China's trade with emerging economies grew in the first quarter. Trade with Russia, for example, increased 33 percent year-on-year.

Trade with the EU edged up 2.6 percent and with the US was up 9.3 percent from the same period in the previous year.

lijiabao@chinadaily.com.cn