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

Customs statistics show China is the world's largest buyer of soybean, which has imported more than 10 million tons per annum since 2000.

The 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, said Wang Lianzheng, former president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Efforts to expand production, plus government policy and financial support will enable China to produce at least 36 million tons by 2006, which will easily satisfy domestic demand, said Xia Jingyuan, a division director at the Ministry of Agriculture.

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

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

By giving the soybean sector more investment and scientific research, 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.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2003)