JINAN: China's food and agricultural product exports reached 22.86 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2009, up 5 percent compared with the same period of last year, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ).

Wang Yong, director of the GAQSIQ, said at a meeting on the quality of these products Sunday that over 99 percent of the country's food exports had passed quality examinations in the past five years.

However, he noted developed countries are tightening standards on food imports.

He said at the meeting in Weifang of east China's Shandong Province that last year, more than half of China's food-exporting companies had been affected by those technical barriers, resulting in direct economic loss of 15.46 billion dollars.

The meeting was aimed at promoting advanced production management models to improve quality supervision for food and agricultural products.

Editor Li Jing

Source Xinhua