China's export and import volume of major agricultural produce went down still in 1999, as an extended aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, China Daily Business Weekly reported on January 30.

According to statistics carried by the Business Weekly, rice exports went down 27.8 percent from those of 1998, to just over 2.7 million tons, while imports reached 168,000 tons, down 31.1 percent.

Maize export dropped 8.1 percent year-on-year, to more than 4.3million tons. China's imports of maize in 1999 plunged a drastic 72 percent over 1998, to 70,000 tons.

Exports of rice, maize and other agricultural produce to Asian countries suffered a year-on-year drop of 2 percent 1999, on top of an 11.4 percent decrease a year ago.

Although Asian countries have shown considerable recovery from the turbulent Asian financial crisis, Chinese agricultural exports to them were still sluggish, going down 9.95 billion US dollars due to a relatively stronger yuan, the Weekly said.

Chinese edible oil exports fell 97,000 tons, a 69 percent decrease, while imports hit 2.08 million tons, up 1.2 percent, because of the slump of palm oil in the world market.

Sugar exports saw a year-on-year drop of 15.7 percent to reach 367,000 tons, while imports reached 417,000 tons, down 17.9 percent.

Moreover, fruit exports were at 1.11 million tons, up 11.8 percent, and imports of such products amounted to 654,000 tons, down 1.6 percent.