China Records Crop Trade Deficit For First Time - China Daily

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"China logged a staggering agriculture trade deficit in the first half of this year, importing US$3.73 billion more than it exported, indicated the latest statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ministry officials and academics, however, gave a lukewarm response to the scenario, claiming the situation is a result of the country's ever-opening market, and may not become a trend.

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The agriculture trade is subject to an array of factors, including supply-demand relations, prices, harvests and even climate, he said. But the status quo probably means China may not be able to sustain a long-standing agriculture trade surplus as it always did before it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, said Han Yijun, a researcher with the ministry's Research Centre for Rural Economy.

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Back in the first half of last year, China was a net exporter of wheat. But it imported 2.727 million tons of wheat by the end of this June, the latest customs statistics indicated. Wang of the Agriculture Trade Promotion Centre said grain imports constituted just a marginal part of food consumption in China, and the country will by no means rely on imports for food security."

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http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/20/content_367067.htm