North Korean grain imports so far in 2015 give a mixed account of the reported drought in the DPRK, with a recent sharp increase in imports offset by lower overall shipments than were seen over the same period last year.

Chinese customs figures show that throughout the first three months of the year DPRK cereal imports remained at just under 300 tons per month.

April bucked the trend, with imports jumping sharply to over 6,000 tons, but dropped to less than a 1000 tons the following month.

Despite the late surge, the small shipments from January to