BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The escalating trade conflicts have consequentially disrupted China's pork imports from the United States, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Chinese companies make their own decisions as to whether to import pork from the U.S. or not, the spokesperson Gao Feng said at a press conference on Thursday.
His comments came as some reports said China recently canceled import order for up to 1,000 tonnes of U.S. pork.
Gao said there are no other limits or management measures in terms of pork imports except that they have to comply with quarantine standards, and Chinese companies can make their own business decisions and freely trade according to market supply and demand, prices and quality.
China has increased its meat imports since the second half of 2018 partly due to the declines in pig breeding stock and pork output.
Meat imports stood at 1.11 million tonnes during the first quarter, up 11.6 percent year on year, Gao said, adding that he expects the country will continue to increase meat imports over the rest of the year.
Germany, Spain, the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Brazil, Netherland and France are among the major sources of China's pork imports, according to data from Chinese customs.
