BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's trade deficit in farm produce in 2006 stood at 670 million U.S. dollars, a decrease of 41.3 percent from the 2005 level of 1.14 billion U.S. dollars, sources with the Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday.

    Industry observers believe the deficit reduction was due largely to growth in China's trade surplus in agricultural products with comparative advantage, particularly labor-intensive products.

    According to the ministry, China's external trade in farm produce amounted to 63.48 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 12.8 percent over the previous year. The total included 31.4 billion U.S. dollars in export value, up 13.9 percent, and 32.1 billion U.S. dollars in import value, up 11.7 percent.

    The sources said last year China exported 9.36 billion U.S. dollars worth of aquatic products, up 18.7 percent, and imported 4.3 billion U.S. dollars worth, up 4.4 percent, with the trade surplus up 34.3 percent to 5.06 billion U.S. dollars.

    The nation's vegetable export volume went up 21 percent to 5.42 billion U.S. dollars, and the import volume, up 11.7 percent to 90 million U.S. dollars, with the trade surplus at 5.33 billion U.S. dollars.

    Meanwhile, the fruit export value increased by 21.7 percent to 2.47 billion U.S. dollars, and the import value rose 15.3 percent to 760 million U.S. dollars, with the trade surplus at 17.1 percent.

    The sources said that upon its WTO accession, China has become the world's fifth largest exporter and the fourth largest importer of farm produce.