Beijing "will allow more enterprises to enter the foreign trade field directly to expand export channels," the newspaper quoted Shi Guangsheng, minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, as saying.

China currently allows only major state companies to export directly while most domestic firms must sell abroad through foreign trade firms.

The newspaper quoted experts as estimating the number of firms approved to directly export would reach more than 10,000 by the end of this year. Official figures on how many have been allowed so far were not available.

The central government would encourage more local enterprises to apply for direct exports and would simplify procedures, the newspaper quoted Shi as saying.

Beijing would also consider allowing the establishment of more Sino-foreign joint ventures and privately owned foreign trade companies, Shi said. So far, only a handful of such firms have been approved.

The newspaper gave no further details.

China's exports grew by 6.9 per cent to $103.1 billion in the first seven months of this year, far slower than the more than 20 per cent pace for all of last year.

Beijing has set an export target of $200 billion for all of this year with growth of 10 per cent over last year.

China is hoping that faster exports will help compensate for sluggish domestic demand. The nation's economy grew a year-on-year 7.0 per cent in the first half, below the 8.0 per cent target for all of this year.