China has long taken a cautious approach to controlling its staple grain import quota eachyear to ensure food security, but when it comes to other foodstuffs, overseas agriculturalproducts are being warmly welcomed by the nation's fast growing middle class.
Thanks to the country's fatter wallets and increasingly diverse diet, China imported 320,000metric tons of fresh milk and 283,000 tons of mutton in 2014, up 73.5 and 9.3 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.
The world's most populous nation also purchased 71.4 million tons of soybeans and 383million liters of wine from overseas markets, up 12.7 and 1.6 percent, respectively, from ayear earlier.
The value of its fruit imports reached $9.19 billion last year, rising 6.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.
As many people in China, in particular in urban areas, are increasingly aware that porkcontains more fat and less protein than lamb, the country's pork consumption and importvolume dropped 2 and 3.3 percent on a year-on-year basis in 2014.
