The Minister of Commerce Chen Deming?addresses the China Development Forum 2011, which is held from March 19 to 21 in Beijing .

China will probably see trade deficit in March, the Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said Sunday on the China Development Forum 2011 in Beijing.

China reported a US$7.3-billion trade deficit in February. This was the first trade deficit China saw since last March.

It was good news for China as calls by some countries for yuan appreciation were getting stronger, economists said.

Earlier this month, Chen Deming said China might witness trade deficit for months this year due to increased imports of high-tech products, green technology, resource-related goods (such as iron ore) as well as simplified procedures and tariff cuts on certain items.

China's trade surplus fell 6.4 percent year on year to 183.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, according to the figures of the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In January, the trade surplus dropped by 53.5 percent year-on-year to $6.46 billion.

The 12th China Development Forum runs from March 19 to 21 in Beijing and its theme this year is "The Ongoing Transformation of China's Growth Pattern."