Gao Feng, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday Photo: Yin Yeping/GT

The phase one trade deal benefits the US, China and the whole world, and the two countries should work together and step up efforts to create the atmosphere and conditions suitable for its smooth implementation, said Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng on Thursday at a press briefing in Beijing.

"The first phase of the trade agreement is good for China, good for the US, and good for the entire world," said Gao at a weekly media briefing in Beijing, responding to a question on whether China's increasing imports of US agricultural products mean that the phase one trade deal between China and the US is still being implemented.

China's imports of agricultural products from the US reached 136.01 billion yuan ($21.06 billion) in the first half of this year, a surge of 120.8 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Monday.

Agricultural imports accounted for 6.2 percent of total China-US trade and 24.0 percent of total imports from the US.

Bilateral trade denominated in US dollars totaled $340.8 billion in the first six months of 2021, an increase of 45.7 percent year-on-year, while imports from the US reached $87.94 billion, up 55.5 percent. 

China's total imports of corn stood at 15.3 million tons, an increase of 318.5 percent from last year, according to GAC. 

But according to statistics from the US Department of Agriculture, corn exported to the Chinese mainland over the marketing year beginning September 1, 2020 had totaled 17.67 million metric tons as of July 1.

Global Times