China is to maintain this year's import tariff quotas for wheat, corn, rice and cotton on imports next year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in Beijing on Tuesday.

The NDRC has allocated import tariff quotas of 9.64 million tons for wheat, 7.2 million tons for corn, 5.32 million tons for rice and 894,000 tons for cotton.

State-owned companies will be granted 90 percent of the wheat quotas, 60 percent of corn quotas, half of the rice permits and a third of those for cotton, the planning agency said.

Companies that plan to import these products through general trade, processing trade, barter trade, small-scale border trade and economic aid must apply for import tariff quotas, it said.

The commission will announce the allocation before Jan. 1 next year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)