China Imports Less Wheat From January to MayChina imported 160,000 tons of wheat from January to May this year, easing the reliance on imports of the previous years.Sources with the Ministry of Agriculture said Thursday that China imported 9 million tons of wheat annually in 1990s and 800, 000 tons of wheat last year. "The positive change indicates that the wheat quality in China has been significantly improved," an official with the ministry said. China focused on agricultural restructuring over the past two years, phasing out low-quality wheat strains and replacing them with high-quality varieties. In 2000, the cultivation area of high-quality wheat expanded to 4.67 million hectares, accounting for over 17 percent of the total wheat cultivation area. Moreover, the quality of corn, rice and other farm produce has been raised to a new level. Sources with the ministry showed that the cultivation areas of high-quality corn and rice hit 5.8 million hectares and 13.3 million hectares, respectively, in 2000. As a result, China's agriculture exports increased markedly last year, hitting 15.6 billion U.S. dollars or an increase of 13 percent from 1998. |
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