BEIJING, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- China posted a trade deficit in agriculture for the first time Friday, the country's agriculture ministry reported Friday.
The country imported $3.73 billion in agricultural products more than it exported during the first six months. But government officials said it was still too early to gauge whether this would be a continuing trend or not.
"It is still too early to conclude the agriculture trade deficit will run for the whole or the coming years," said Wang Zhanlu, a division director of the ministry's agriculture trade promotion center, China Daily reports.
The daily also reported China may not be able to sustain an agricultural trade surplus as it had before it joined the World Trade Organization, having averaged a surplus of $4.3 billion a year between 1995 and 2003.
"The deficit is glaring but not surprising, given the country's commitments following WTO entry, the implementation of tariff rate quotas, and competition in the global market," according to Han Yijun, a researcher with the ministry's research center for rural economy.
