China has made its contribution to stabilizing the international grain price, said a top agricultural official in Beijing on Monday.

"China's grain exports volume hit 9.91 million tons last year, far more than that of the imports of less than 1.6 million tons. The figures indicate that China has played an important role in stabilizing the international grain price," said Wei Chaoan, vice agricultural minister.

Wei made the remarks at a press conference held on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC).

He believed that the production capability of 500 million tons of grain by 2010 could ensure the country's grain security and a rapid and sound economic development.

In addition, he said the recent price drop of soybeans on the global market was a result of previous high-margin price rise as the volume of China's soybean import kept rising.

The import of soybeans in 2005 and 2006 was 26 million and 28 million tons respectively. The figure reached 30 million tons last year, according to Wei.

"The soybean import maintains a two million-ton increase each year. The drought last year hampered domestic soybean production and the renewed stockbreeding industry also contributed to the rapid consumption of soybeans," he said.

He predicted that the domestic production of soybeans would grow this year as the government had worked out some preferential policies to motivate farmers.

"This will benefit the stability of the world soybean market," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2008)