China becomes biggest export market for Purchasing agricultural products from the U.S

China becomes biggest export market for Purchasing agricultural products from the U.S : BEIJING, Feb. 12, 2011 (Xinhua News Agency) -- For the first time, China emerged as the top market for US agricultural exports, which signals China's dependence on the world grain market. But resorting to world grain market can be seen as a way to help China actively secure grain security.

According to statistics released on Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, China imported agricultural products valued at 17.5 billion US dollars from the United States in 2010, accounting for 15.1 percent of the total exports of agricultural products of the US.

The major import from the U.S. is soybean.

Li Guoxiang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), holds that increasing grain imports will help ease contradiction between major agricultural products and farmland, and increase the country's grain security.

In general, the advantages of rising grain imports outweigh the disadvantages, said Li.

As the most populous country in the world, China should guarantee the planting of key agricultural products, such as rice, wheat and corn, to feed its people, while demand for cash crops such as soybean can be met from the international market, said Li.

The agricultural products on which China has high external dependence include soybeans, cotton, vegetable oil, and edible sugar.

China has little dependence on the international market for major grains such as rice, wheat, and corn.

If soybean is excluded from the list of China's grain imports, the country's grain imports has not long exceeded 5 percent of its grain output.

Statistics from China's Ministry of Agriculture show that China's self-sufficiency in rice, wheat, and corn stands at 100 percent.

This indicates that China's dependence on the international grain market is moderate.

Purchasing agricultural products from the U.S. is an important method of promoting trade balance between China and the U.S., against the background that both countries are striving to balance bilateral trade, said Zang Xuheng, head of the industrial economy research institute of Shandong University.

Besides, it is a rational practice for China to increase imports of staple agricultural products, as prices of agricultural products are expected to rise on the impact of recent sustained bad weather.

China's grain security outlook is undergoing significant changes. China is now making full use of both the domestic and overseas markets rather than focusing only on the balance of domestic supply and demand.

As the country imports more agricultural products, price rises of world agricultural products will have a greater impact on China, which may result in imported inflation, according to Zhang Junling, an analyst from Dongxing Securities. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

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