China Won't Seek Sharp Yuan Declines, Statistics Official Says

China won't seek a sharp decline in the yuan to help exporters cope with weakening global demand, an official at the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The currency's 0.72 percent slump against the dollar on Dec. 1 was a "minor adjustment" based on China's economic fundamentals, Wang Shaohui wrote in a report posted on the bureau's Web site today. China should focus on upgrading product quality and lowering exporters' costs rather than seeking a big drop in the currency to counter a slowdown in shipments, Wang said.

China's overseas sales declined 2.2 percent last month from a year earlier after gaining 19.2 percent in October, the customs bureau said on Dec. 10. That's the first drop in seven years.

The yuan has risen 0.6 percent in the past three weeks, erasing losses in the first week of this month. It traded at 6.84 a dollar as of 12:57 p.m. in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

Wang's comments don't represent the bureau's opinion, the report said.