SEOUL: North Korea’s monthly imports of cereals from China dropped to their lowest level since 2014 during March of this year, according to Chinese customs trade data. The data shows that only $300 worth of cereals were exported to North Korea during the month, which is a 1000 fold drop on February’s figures.
The data recovers in April with $266,848 worth of cereals imported from China, however this is still lower than February’s numbers, which registered $327,000 worth of shipments. While March’s figures are rare and represent a substantial drop in the import of cereals from China, such figures are not unprecedented. In February of 2014, the imports of cereals from China fell to zero.
However the figures surrounding the February numbers were significantly larger, which may indicate a possible accounting error given that, at times, Chinese trade statistics can be volatile. To find similarly low numbers prior to February 2014, you would have to go back to reported data in 2009.
North Korea’s imports of cereals from China have been on the wane somewhat and in 2015 the total cost of the shipments was $7 million, a smaller number than any year since 2004. March represented a tumultuous month for North Korea with the unanimous adoption of further sanctions against the country in the UN Security Council. This led to reports, both in international and domestic media, that North Korea was concerned about possible food reserves.
However despite the drop, no UN or unilateral sanctions target food or cereal products. NK News had learned however that a North Korean food importing company had stopped some operations with business partners in China in the month of March, immediately after the sanctions were adopted. The Daily NK’s rice price tracker indicates there have been no sudden price shocks in the DPRK this year.
