BEIJING, Aug 20 (Reuters) - China's pilot programme to settle trade in yuan has run into a roadblock because foreign buyers either have little access to the Chinese currency or are reluctant to part with it, state media reported on Thursday.
Guangdong province, the country's export hub, was supposed to be a cornerstone of the experiment in internationalising the currency. But local officials said they were finding few foreign counterparts who would pay for Chinese goods in yuan, Xinhua news agency reported.
"Expectations of yuan appreciation widely exist among foreign buyers, and they are not willing to settle trade deals in yuan,", the state-run news agency said in its report.
Foreign firms also have had difficulty getting their hands on yuan, it said.
China settles the vast majority of its trade in dollars and its partially closed financial account means that the yuan is generally not available in foreign exchange markets.
China officially launched the pilot programme in July to allow companies in selected regions to settle imports and exports in yuan, which was heralded as a major step towards eventually internationalising the Chinese currency and cutting its reliance on the dollar.
Guangdong, which was supposed to play a leading role in yuan settlement through its trade with neighbouring Hong Kong, has allowed 273 local exporters to join the trial. (Reporting by Zhou Xin and Simon Rabinovitch; editing by David Stamp)