failures was a culture of falsifying output figures together with poor administration of the sector. Since 2018, independent media have reported food shortages in the country, with hundreds of people queuing for hours to buy bread and flour. Despite official government figures indicating good harvests, independent media report low output due to drought and mismanagement, and that shortages of flour and bread have reappeared. Mechanization of agriculture Since independence, the Turkmenistan government has spent considerable sums on imported agricultural tractors, harvesters, and implements. In 2012, around 7,000 tractors, 5,000 cotton cultivators, 2,200 seeders, and other machines, mainly procured from Belarus and the United States, were used. John Deere and Case IH each began selling farm machinery in Turkmenistan in 1994. Claas combines were first used for grain harvesting in Turkmenistan in 2011. Belarus tractors, in use since Soviet times, continue to be popular due to competitive pricing and deep familiarity with the product line. Turkmenistan also buys cotton harvesters from Uzbekistan. Between 2017 and 2020 Claas delivered 1,000 Tucano 420 grain combines, 800 Axion 850 plowing tractors, and 1,550 Axos 340 tractors. In the 2017 and 2018 crop years John Deere delivered 440 Model 9970 cotton harvesters, and between 2019 and 2020 another 600. Trade The following table presents the value of Turkmenistan's exports and imports in millions of US dollars, by year, from 2015 through 2019. Turkmenistan's most important export commodity is natural gas, delivered by pipelines to China and in lesser quantities to Russia and via a swap through Iran to Azerbaijan, and by road and rail to Afghanistan as liquid petroleum gas. According to Chinese Customs data, the value of Chinese imports of natural gas from Turkmenistan fell from US$8,686,022,768 in 2019 to US$6,071,165,273 in 2020 due to a combination of reduced Chinese import volumes and falling hydrocarbon prices. Crude oil and refined petroleum products accounted for another US$3 billion of exports in 2019, followed by US$123.6 million for cotton textiles. Among imports, major categories in 2019 were machinery (US$1.5 billion), base metals (US$968.3 million), chemicals (US$682.3 million), vehicles (US$453.5 million), and plastic and rubber and products thereof (US$342.9 million). Labour In 2019, Turkmenistan counted 666,500 employees of large- and medium enterprises, and 103,900 employees of non-state (private, mixed public-private, or foreign) enterprises. The structure of employment was 25.3% in the state sector, 50.3% in the private sector, 22.0% mixed public-private enterprises, 0.2% in public associations, 0.4%