Imports of major grains surge in first 10 months

BEIJING, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- China imported 10.09 million tonnes of wheat, corn and rice during the first 10 months of 2012, rising sharply from the same period last year, according to a Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) spokesman on Tuesday.

Bi Meijia, chief economist and MOA spokesman said at a press conference that the country's imports of wheat, corn and rice in the January-October period was up by 9.29 tonnes year on year.

The figure stood at 3.57 million tonnes for the whole of 2011.

Bi said that the surge was partly attributed to consumers' diversified grain comsuption demand, especially a preference for high-quality imported rice and wheat.

Corn, an ingredient for animal feed and an important industrial raw material, also faces tightening supply as the farming and deep processing industries develop, Bi added.

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