^{source: Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China}

BEIJING, Dec. 3 -- China has agreed to import the second batch of 150 tons of rice from Japan before next March, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said on Sunday.

The agreement was reached during a recent meeting between Li Changjiang, director of AQSIQ, and Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi in Beijing.

The Japanese side has agreed to devise and launch working procedures including insects inspections of Japanese rice by the end of next March, according to AQSIQ.

The first batch of rice imported from Japan, approximately 24 tons, hit the shelves of the department stores in Beijing and Shanghai since July and has all been sold out, although its price was about 20 times higher than that produced in China.

The import ban on Japanese rice was imposed in 2003 after China found insects in rice imports from Japan. An agreement to lift the ban was reached between the two countries in April this year.

Japan said it would launch immediately legal procedures at home to ensure imports bans on Chinese pumpkins could be lifted by the end of next March.

It promised to start importing Chinese artiodactyl meat products by end March in 2008 when it finished inspections of concerned products of 35 Chinese cooked artiodactyl meat makers, the AQSIQ said.

The two sides also agreed to conduct exchanges and consultations on quarantine and inspection techniques before next May amid efforts to resume imports of frozen raw poultry meat from China.