It Is Not a Fact That China's Rice Imports Doubled, Ministry of Commerce Refutes the Rumor

In response to recent reports claiming that China's rice imports grew severalfold last year, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shen Danyang refuted the claim on the 29th: “this claim is simply not a fact, and saying so carries a hint of wishing the world were in chaos.”

Shen Danyang made the above statement at the Ministry of Commerce's regular press conference held that day. Recently, overseas reports claimed that China's rice imports grew severalfold in 2014, and said that the reason for such rapid growth was consumers' lack of confidence in domestically produced rice.

Shen Danyang said that according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, China imported 2.58 million tons of rice in 2014, with imports accounting for only about 1.3% of China's domestic output, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%. “This is not growth by multiples at all.” he said.

Shen Danyang analyzed that there were mainly two reasons for the increase in rice imports: first, the widening price gap at home and abroad strengthened enterprises' willingness to import; second, consumption demand among some high-income consumer groups and high-end restaurants in China for Thai fragrant rice and Japanese rice increased somewhat. “Whichever the reason, it is the result of market forces.”

“Although rice imports currently account for a very small share of China's domestic rice output, we will also pay serious attention to and analyze this going forward.” Shen Danyang said.