Risks are rising that China's economic growth will slide further in the second quarter after data showed unexpected weakness in May trade.

Premier Li Keqiang tried to strike a reassuring note, saying the economy was generally stable and that growth was within a "relatively high and reasonable range", but the slow growth pace still brings warnings that the country could miss its growth target of 7.5 percent for this year.

Exports posted their lowest annual growth rate in almost a year in May at 1 percent, exposing a more realistic picture of trade following a crackdown by authorities on currency speculation disguised as export trades to skirt capital controls, which had created double-digit rises in export growth every month this year even as world growth stuttered.

Imports fell 0.3 percent against expectations for a 6 percent rise as the volume of many commodity shipments fell from a year earlier. The volume of major metals imports, including copper and alumina, fell at double-digit rates. Coal imports fell sharply.

Inflation, bank-lending growth and investment were below expectations in May, while factory output and retail sales rose around the same pace as in April.

China's consumer inflation slowed to 2.1 percent, the lowest in three months, while producer prices (PPI) fell 2.9 percent, the lowest since September. PPI’s negative growth had already lasted for more than a year.