BEIJING: China imported a quarter of its total rice imports from Pakistan in 2012, according to the data release by Chinese Customs. Pakistan followed Vietnam in Chinese rice imports, while Thailand settled for third. Vietnam constituted 66.7% of rice imports to China and Thailand exported 7.6% last year. The Ministry of Agriculture (PRC) said that China’s rice imports, which used to be dominated by Thai rice, favoured by high-end consumers, turned to overseas markets for low price. Rice prices in China started to outpace those in Vietnam and Pakistan last year due to a stronger yuan and steady price hikes in the domestic market. China’s rice imports more than quadrupled from the previous year to reach 2.32 million tons in 2012, marking the largest amount of such imports since 2000, according to the latest customs data. Since the imports only accounted for a small share of international rice trade, as well as domestic production and consumption, they will not have an obvious impact on the global grain market or affect the domestic rice market, said a statement from the ministry.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2013.
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