China's economic picture darkened in June as exports posted their biggest monthly drop since the recession. The unexpectedly weak June data, reported by Chinese officials, suggests that the world's second-largest economy is still facing sluggish demand for its goods and could slow further than government and private forecasts.

To put China's sustained growth into perspective, when it surpassed the United States in 2010 to become the world's largest manufacturer, its output accounted for 23 percent of global manufacturing. Fast forward two years and China has gained an additional 10 percent of total manufacturing share, with $2.9 tr of the total $8.8tr global manufacturing output, putting their total value at 20 percent more than the US.