A surge in China's rice imports in 2012 will not affect food safety in the country and there are no grounds to relate the increasing imports to any global food crisis, the Ministry of Commerce said on its website on Wednesday.

China's rice imports more than quadrupled from the previous year to 2.32 million metric tons in 2012, the highest level since 2000, the ministry said. But the imports only accounted for about 1.7 percent of China's demand for rice.

China Daily -Agencies