Liu Jianlin looked worried as he stood by gazing his fish pond Sunday, for the fear that the eels which brought him US$1,250 a year may now leave him in the red.

"I do not have the least idea whether anyone will buy my eels this year," said the farmer from Rentian town in the city of Ruijin, east China's Jiangxi Province.

Liu used to sell his eels to Hongdu Aquatic Food Co. Ltd, the country's No. 2 roast eel maker that exports at least 90 percent of its products to Japan.

But more rigid import standards imposed by the Japanese side in recent years has reduced the company's export volume from US$60 million in 2004 to US$40 million in 2005.

In consequence, the company has bought much less from local eel raisers and the losses are eventually shifted onto farmers like Liu, who number around 10,000 in the city of Ruijin alone.

In Ruijin, per capita income for farmers averaged 2,700 yuan (about US$380) last year, compared with the 3,255 yuan (some US$410) reported for an average Chinese farmer.

Japan's new inspection criteria set for chemical residues on food, which is due to take effect on May 29, will surely make life tougher still for these farmers who are trying to survive at less than a dollar a day.

The new criteria involve 302 food products, 799 agricultural chemicals and 54,782 inspection criteria and is believed to be the world's strictest by far.

Industry insiders say it will affect one third, or US$8 billion worth of China's total exports of food and agricultural products, and will threaten 5,100 export-oriented businesses and several million farmers like Liu.

Liu and his peers have been taught how to avoid having their products rejected, but "even experts cannot tell what chemicals are absolutely safe," he said.

Even before the new criteria take effect, two of the four roast eel makers in Jiangxi Province have closed down, and only 98 of the province's 150 eel raisers are still hard at work to survive, half of which are already on the verge of bankruptcy.

In east China's Shandong Province, where some 40 percent of the local food exporters target the Japanese market, the restrictions are likely to affect the livelihood of at least 5,000 businesses and 5 million people, half of whom peasant farmers, said vice governor Sun Shoupu.

The coastal agricultural province mainly exports vegetables -- green Chinese onions in particular. Last year, it exported 2.64 billion U.S. dollars of farm produce to Japan.

The restrictions will consequently put many other local industries at risk, including stockbreeding, fodder, pesticide and transportation, Sun told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Observers say the restrictions will eventually prove detrimental to Japanese importers and consumers as Japan has to export one third of its total vegetable consumption.

Tokyo customs statistics say Chinese vegetables make up 80 percent of Japan's total vegetable imports and for some product categories such as eel and green Chinese onion, the portion hovers around 90 percent.

China's Ministry of Commerce says that meat products, vegetables, seafood and tea are among the high risk items under Japan's new inspection criteria.

A ministry spokesperson has promised the ministry would follow Japan's new criteria strictly so as to guide Chinese exporters.

Since 2001, says the ministry, China has suffered 24 major trade and technical barriers hindering its exports of farm produce to Japan.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2006)