China's farm produce trade deficit expands from Jan to May

BEIJING -- China's trade in agricultural products reported a deficit of $36.67 billion in the first five months of 2020, up 20.6 percent year-on-year, official statistics show.

Farm produce imports increased by 8.8 percent year-on-year to $65.98 billion, while exports fell 3 percent to $29.31 billion, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

China's total farm produce trade volume rose by 4.9 percent year on year to $95.29 billion during the January-May period.

In breakdown, imports of grains expanded by 18.1 percent year-on-year to 9.34 million tons in the period, while pork imports rose 1.6 times from the same period of last year to 1.68 million tons.

Exports of fruits and vegetables both registered year-on-year growth, with fruit exports up 18.9 percent to $2.51 billion and vegetable exports rising by 4.6 percent from last year.