BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s overall exports to North Korea in March rose sharply compared with the same month last year for the second month in a row, with the major export items including rice, Chinese customs data showed on Friday.
Chinese outbound shipments to the isolated country surged 141.7% year-on-year last month following a 161.5% leap in January-February, data released by China’s General Administration of Customs showed.
Rice was the most imported commodity by value, totalling $22 million. The country also imported around $8 million in artificial wigs and $7 million in tobacco.
China’s foreign ministry said last month that relations between China and North Korea had entered “a new historic period” in recent years and continued to develop under the “strategic leadership” of both countries.
China’s new ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, arrived in the North on March 27.
(Reporting by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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