China's commerce ministry said Wednesday that the country is facing a "more severe situation" in its foreign trade for the rest of this year, fanning concerns that Beijing could devalue its yuan currency further after a surprise cut last week.

"For the second-half of this year, China's foreign trade situation will face more severity than we expected," China's commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told reporters during a regular press briefing.

Shen said the Chinese economy is also facing "a lot of uncertainty," but did not elaborate further.

The Chinese central bank devalued its tightly-controlled yuan currency last week, letting the yuan fall by the most in nearly two decades.

Following disappointing economic data, the surprise move triggered fears of a currency war because a weak yuan helps boost Chinese exports overseas, while deepening worries over the health of the world's second-largest economy.

Before last week's major devaluation, the yuan's value against the U.S. dollar had been barely changed, but the yuan lost about 3 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar.

In July, China's exports plunged 8.3 percent from the same month last year, while imports dived 8.1 percent year-on-year.

China targets this year's economic growth rate at 7 percent, marking the slowest expansion in 25 years. (Yonhap)