DPRK increased food imports from China

Almaty. August 18. Silkroadnews – The DPRK has raised the import of food from China, the Russian newspaper “Комсомольская Правда” reports.
The DPRK has massively increased food imports from China, China’s customs data showed. The volume of supplies of Chinese corn to the DPRK increased 32-fold compared to the same period a year earlier, from 400 tonnes to 12.72 thousand tonnes. China’s exports of bananas to the neighboring country grew from 63.4 tonnes to 1.16 thousand tonnes, wheat powder from 0.6 tonnes to 7.6 tonnes, the report said.
At the same time, it is noted that Pyongyang began to import more Chinese spirits along with other types of food products, from bread to chocolate.
“The surge can be a result from a bigger market demand from North Korea, since its economy is gradually reviving and the black market is booming”, South China Morning Post quoted Cai Jian, a Sino-North Korean expert from Fudan University in Shanghai, saying.
In his view, this shows Pyongyang’s growing dependence on Beijing under conditions when the DPRK “cannot import anything freely from other countries”.