February 3, 2012

China to import grain for market balance

China will continue to import grain at appropriate levels, even though they reach a record high for 2011, to balance the demand and supply in the market, a senior official said Thursday (Feb 2).

The country still imports corn because of the need to balance regional demands, said Chen Xiwen, director of the Office of Central Rural Work Leading Group. "The moderate corn imports do not mean that there is a supply shortage in the domestic market," Chen said.

Considering the exports of corn-processed products such as starch and ethanol and animal products fed on corn, corn exports still exceeded imports, Chen said.

As for the reason of increasing soy imports over recent years, Chen said the country's soy production yield was lower than other countries due to climate, technology, seed varieties and transport reasons. The imports have helped save land for other high-value crops.

Chen said China's food security was guaranteed as the country's grain output accounted for 22% of world's total output last year, while its population made up 19% of the world's total.

China's grain output rose 4.5% on-year to a record high of 571.21 million tonnes in 2011, marking the eighth consecutive year of growth for the country's grain output.