North Korea's crop imports from China plunged 62 percent in October from a year earlier, data showed on Saturday, spawning speculation Pyongyang's crop yield was not hit as hard by floods this year as was predicted.

According to the data compiled by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), North Korea imported 22,331 tons of crops such as flour, rice, corn and bean in October from its neighboring country, compared with 59,369 tons a year earlier.

The October figure was also down 38 percent from the previous month, according to the data.

In the first 10 months of the year, the North imported a total of 239,325 tons of crops from its strongest ally, also down 23 percent from the 310,106 tons a year earlier, the data showed.

The data followed projections North Korea's crop yield would plunge this year, due mainly to unfavorable weather conditions that swept the country in late-summer, exacerbating the chronic food shortage in the poverty-stricken nation.

Hundreds of people were killed and went missing in heavy downpours that swept through large parts of North Korea during this year's summer rain season.

The floods between mid-June and late August also destroyed farmlands, thousands of houses and affected roughly 300,000 residents, the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported earlier.

North Korea imported a total of 376,431 tons of crops from China last year, following 313,694 tons in 2010 and 203,390 tons in 2009, according to the data. (Yonhap News)