China may ban Korean imports

China may ban Korean imports

SEOUL (AFX-ASIA): China has threatened to ban imports of South Korean mobile phones and polyethylene goods in a trade dispute over garlic, a South Korean trade official said.

Beijing has said South Korea has only imported 22,000 of the 32,000 tons of Chinese garlic it promised to import last year.

"China has set next Wednesday for the deadline for Seoul to import the remaining 10,000 tons or face punitive actions," an unnamed trade official told Agence France Presse.

The government has urged its importers to buy the 10,000 tons of garlic from China, but local businesses refuse to import it as its price continues to fall on low domestic demand.

The official said Beijing warned it would put a temporary ban on Seoul's two key export items to China, cellular phones and polyethylene goods, in retaliation.