The country has the ability to dramatically boost its soybean supply by improving production and quality, agricultural officials and policy advisers said at a national symposium in Beijing at the weekend.

It is also likely to become the world's chief exporter of non-GM soybeans if supporting policies are put in place, they said.

China has imported more than 10 million tons of soybean per annum since 2000, customs statistics show.

The steady growth of China's animal husbandry and aquatic sectors will push the demand for soybean to 34 million tons in 2006, said Xia Youfu, who has just concluded a national soybean research project.

Xia told the symposium that for years China had laid importance on the production of grains like rice and wheat, rather than on soybeans.

It has largely resulted in less investment and scientific research in the soybean sector.

The humble soybean is emerging as a big issue in relation to the employment and income of tens of millions of Chinese farmers, prompting the government to take a hard look at its soybean policies, experts at the symposium said.

By giving the soybean sector due emphasis, the country is easily able to expand the scope of its production and plant more high-yield soybeans with higher protein and oil contents, officials and experts agreed.

Northeast China and regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers are famed as "golden areas" for soybean growth due to their favourable natural conditions.

Wang Lianzheng, former president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said China's soybean growing area should be expanded from its current 9 million hectares to 13 million hectares, which would produce an additional 70 billion kilograms of the legume.

As for high oil-bearing soybeans, a national action plan piloted last year in Northeast China has seen Heilongjiang Province produce soybeans with an oil-bearing rate of 22.3 percent. The figure is up to 3 percentage points higher than the national average, said Xia Jingyuan, a division director at the Ministry of Agriculture.

In addition to reserving more areas for soybeans with a higher oil content, China can also dramatically improve its per-unit soybean output, Xia said.

China's per-hectare yield stood at 1,620 kilograms last year, far lower than the world's average of 2,340 kilograms.

Unlike the United States - China's biggest soybean exporter - which heavily subsidizes its soybean trade, China virtually gives no soybean subsidy, Xia Youfu said. On the contrary, levies and other irrational measures have pushed up costs.

Efforts to expand production, plus government policy and financial support in line with World Trade Organization rules, will enable China to produce at least 36 million tons by 2006, which will easily satisfy domestic demand, Xia said.

In relation to China's soybean exports, experts said that amid worldwide concern over the safety of GM foods, China's non-GM crop has an edge.

The Ministry of Agriculture announced last month that China plans to turn its northeast region into the world's largest producer of non-GM soybeans in five years.

China exported 280,000 tons of soybean between January and November last year, a year-on-year increase of 11.1 per cent, according to customs statistics.

(China Daily April 21, 2003)