UPDATE 1 (2013-7-29): DPRK imports of Chinese grain drop 8.4% in the first half of 2013. According to Yonhap:
North Korea’s imports of Chinese grain fell 8.4 percent on-year in the first half of 2013 mainly due to a better harvest last fall, a report said Monday.
The report by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) showed Pyongyang’s imports of flour, rice, corn and other grain products reaching 124,228 tons in the January-June period, compared with 135,648 tons a year earlier.
The state-run institute said that while the country imported more than 20,000 tons of grain on average from February onward, last year’s better harvest and overall improvements in food supply conditions led to the first-half decline.
“Overall, import numbers indicate supply and demand of grain is very stable in North Korea,” said Kwon Tae-jin, a research fellow at KREI who compiled the report.
He said besides grain, the communist country imported 139,161 tons of chemical fertilizers from China in the first half, a drop of 35 percent from 213,871 tons purchased in the same six-month period last year.
ORIGINAL POST (2013-7-29): DPRK imports of Chinese grain fall 14.2% in 2013. According to Yonhap (via Global Post):
Imports of Chinese grain by North Korea fell 14.2 percent on-year in the first five months of 2013 mainly due to a better harvest last fall, a report said Wednesday.
The findings by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) showed Pyongyang’s imports of flour, rice, corn and other grain products reaching 101,170 tons in the January-May period, down from 117,922 tons the year before.
The institute said numbers fell sharply in May when total grain imports stood at just 21,142 tons, which represents an 18 percent drop from the previous year and an 18.2 percent decrease from April. The communist country brought in 25,850 tons of grain from its neighbor in the preceding month and 25,788 tons in May of 2012.
Kwon Tae-jin, a research fellow at KREI who compiled the report, said the sizable drop in imports was probably caused by better grain output last year, which made it unnecessary for the country to buy the commodity from China.
“It can be a sign that things have improved,” he said. The researcher also speculated that the harvest of such produce as barley, wheat and potatoes, which grow in spring, may have been better than in the past.
The experts, who checked raw data provided by the Korea International Trade Association, said the North imported 42.7 percent more chemical fertilizers in the January-May period of this year vis-a-vis the same time period in 2012.
The country brought in 129,967 tons of fertilizer from China, compared to 91,096 tons the year before. Such an increase may exert a positive effect on farm output.
Kwon said that the spike in fertilizers is a sure sign that the North is giving top priority to pushing up agricultural output.
Related to the latest data, a government source hinted that North Korea’s emphasis on agriculture may be aimed at trying to strengthen the leadership of its new leader Kim Jong-un, who took power after the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011.
“Unlike other economic sectors that require time, agriculture is something that can generate results in a short period of time and have immediate impact on everyday lives,” the official who declined to be identified said.
Read the full story here:
N. Korea’s imports of Chinese grain fall 14.2 pct in 2013
Yonhap (via Global Post)
2013-7-3
