China, Korea Discuss Garlic Trade DisputeChina and South Korea held a second day of negotiations Friday to end trade disputes that block South Korean shipments of mobile phones and polyethylene to China.The talks Friday followed two rounds of meetings Thursday between Chinese and South Korean negotiators, a Chinese foreign trade official said. South Korea's embassy in Beijing had no comment. The flap began June 1 when Seoul increased tariffs on Chinese garlic imports to 315 percent to protect Korean farmers. Six days later, China responded with a ban on imports of South Korean mobile telephones and polyethylene, used to make a wide range of plastics. Two-way trade between South Korea and China reached US$12.1 billion during the first five months of this year, up 73 percent from the same period last year. China is South Korea's third-largest trade partner. South Korean farmers blame cheap Chinese imports for a 30 percent drop in garlic prices, but Beijing said it is mainly due to domestic overproduction. China's garlic exports to South Korea increased to 22,000 tons in 1999 from 9,900 tons in 1998. Garlic production in South Korea rose to 484,000 tons in 1999 from 394,000 tons in 1998. South Korea exported US$41 million worth of mobile phones and US$470 million worth of polyethylene to China last year. |
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