Singapore, May 19 (OsterDowJones) - China imported around 220,000 metrictons of palm oil in April 2004, compared with 190,000 tons imported inApril, 2003, the China Securities newspaper reported Wednesday, citingdatafrom China's General Administration of Customs.China imported around 610,000 tons of palm oil in the January-Aprilperiod, up 13.3% from 540,000 tons in the same period of 2003, the reportsaid.China's official customs data is usually released on the 20th day ofeach month, but government agencies and state-owned media sometimes haveaccess to the data earlier than that. China Securities is a subsidiary ofthe officialXinhua News Agency.According to official data, China imported 3,324,806 tons of palm oilin 2003, up 50% from imports in 2002. Malaysia, the largest supplier,exported 2,432,314 tons of palm oil to China in 2003.