China imported one million tons of grain in the first seven months of this year, a decrease of 54.9 percent from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said on Friday.

The imports were valued at US$320 million, down 34.6 percent, and included 641,000 tons of barley, down 54.4 percent, and 264,000 tons of rice, down 36.4 percent.

The barley imports were priced at US$269.3 per ton, up 45.5 percent, and paddy and rice, US$473.4 per ton, up 27.5 percent.

The administration attributed the decline in imports to a growth in grain production at home, price hikes on the international markets and mounting transport costs.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2007)