China, a major world toy producer and exporter, reported slow growth in toy exports in the first four months of this year, the Beijing-based Economic Daily reported Thursday.

The Shanghai port, in the January-April period, exported 320 million US dollars worth of toys, down 3.5 percent from the same period of last year.

During the same period, Shanghai port exported 250 million pieces of staffed animal toys, a decrease of 9.3 percent compared with the same period of 2004, and the export of dolls dropped by nearly 37.3 percent.

Profits at toy enterprises are also declining.

The downward export trend is attributed to the weak competitiveness of Chinese toys on the international market, which is due to trade barriers, the rising price of raw materials and low technical inputs.

Chinese toy enterprises are urged to adjust their product structure to meet changing market demand.

Also greatly impacting China's toy exports are new European Union, Japanese and Australian safety and environmental standards.

Source: Xinhua