NANCHANG, July 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese ceramic pot exporter on Friday claimed he had lost an export order worth eight million yuan (1.05 million U.S. dollars) because of "unfounded" Japanese media reports that the product may contain harmful lead.

    The suspension had led to a stockpile of more than 170,000 unsold pots since May, said Xu Heyu, general manager with the HongKong-invested J.B Porcelain Development Co. Ltd., in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province.

    Xu was speaking after China's top quality control watchdog refuted quality problems in the company's ceramic cooking pots claimed by Japanese media in mid-May.

    "Analyses by different agencies and countries have proved that the pots made by J.B are up to standard and are safe," Li Changjiang, director with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said at a press conference in Beijing.

    Sanjo Health Bureau in Niigata Prefecture and another Japanese quality inspection organization had conducted tests, finding the pots safe, said Li.

    Xu's company produces about 500,000 pots every year, mostly for export. The cooking pot was popular among Japanese consumers before the media reports, he said.

    Many other ceramic pot makers and exporters in other parts of China have seen lost orders since the media reports in Japan.

    The AQSIQ and Jiangxi quality inspection watchdog dispatched special teams to investigate the issue.

    Quality tests conducted by state-level laboratories showed the lead content of the pots was within Chinese legal limits and Japan's food standards, Jiangxi Provincial Administration of Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement on Friday.

    The pots, with patent registration in China, were produced in line with quality requirements and subject to strict supervision and inspection by both sides, it said, adding the Japanese media was trying to "denigrate China's image" and thwart the inflow of Chinese products.

    Jingdezhen is the most famous Chinese porcelain-making center, with a history going back 1,600 years of making artistic ceramic pieces with sophisticated technologies.