Trade deficit for China's farm produce shows sharp increase

China's farm produce trade deficit reached US$2.56 billion in January-February, a jump of 218% over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

In the January-February period, the farm produce import and export value respectively stood at US$9.3 billion and US$6.74 billion, up 50.3% and 25.2% on-year.

In February, the farm produce import value amounted to US$3.95 billion, rising 21.1% from the year earlier period, while the export value climbed 30% to US$2.86 billion.

In the first two months, grain imports and exports both rose on-year. The wheat imports came to 181,000 tonnes, up 93%, while corn exports soared 1500% to 42,000 tonnes.