Imported fresh fruit, dried fruit and nuts from the United States reached 721 tons in the first seven months of this year, 289 times more when compared to the same period last year.

Fruits and nuts comprise the fastest-growing commodity imported from the United States.

Shanghai imported 193 tons of US feathers and eiderdown, nearly 57 times more when compared to the first seven months of 1999.

Shanghai Customs officials attributed the huge increase in US imports to the Sino-American agreement on China's entry into World Trade Organization, which now appears to be virtually certain.

Under the Sino-American agreement, China is lifting barriers to US agricultural imports, such as wheat, meat and citrus.

China's three leading imports from the United States in the year's first seven months are edible oil seeds (95,934 tons), up 68.2 percent on year; frozen poultry (8,342 tons), skyrocketing 219.7 percent; and milk and cream (5,799 tons), climbing 80.5 percent.

"The increase in imports has affected local products," said Xu Deren, deputy manager of the Shanghai Fruit Ltd.

Xu said only 30 percent of domestically grown fruits are of a high enough quality to compete with American oranges, such as those sold by Sunkist.

The processing, transportation and the storage of domestic fruit cannot compete with the United States', Xu said.

"About 30 percent of fruits are wasted because of poor processing, storage and, of course, the low quality of the fruits," Xu said.

China is a major agricultural country that grows a huge amount of citrus products and exports a sizeable amount of frozen chicken and eiderdown.

China must improve the quality of its exports, establish brands known for quality and promote its exports if it is to compete internationally, Shanghai Customs officials said.

(China Daily)