China, the world's largest rice consumer, is in talks to import more rice from Japan, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Director Li Changjiang said Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Preparations for further imports from Japan were proceeding "very smoothly," the delegate to the ongoing 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China said without specifying the timetable or volume.

The first batch of Japanese rice comprising around 24 metric tons arrived on shelves in Beijing and Shanghai in July. Although prices were about 20 times higher than domestically produced rice, the entire volume of Japanese rice has been sold.

In 2003, China banned Japanese rice imports after detecting insects in rice cargoes. An agreement to lift the ban was reached between the two countries in April.