Customs officials in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Monday issued inspection and quarantine certificates for 975 breeding pigs imported from the US, marking the province's first direct introduction of US breeding pigs.

On April 18, a total of 990 breeding pigs landed in Chengdu on a flight from Chicago, domestic news site chinanews.com reported.

During a 45-day quarantine period, 975 pigs passed inspection, said the report.

The qualifying rate of 98.5 percent complies with China's requirements for the inspection and quarantine of imported animals, it said.

The animals will be an excellent source for China's live pig breeding industry and will help Sichuan's supply-side structural reform in the agriculture sector, it noted.

"If not affected by trade tensions initiated by the US, there is vast space for US-China agricultural cooperation because of their farm sectors' complementary nature," Ma Wenfeng, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant, told the Global Times on Monday.

China imports an average of 2 million tons of pork from the US each year, he said.