China's soybean imports account for 90% of total demand

BEIJING - China imported 81.7 million tons of soybean products in 2015, 87.8 percent of its total demand, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said Wednesday.

Many of the imported soybean products are genetically modified as such products accounted for 82 percent of total soybean planting areas in the world in 2014, Liao Xiyuan, head of the MOA's Department of Science, technology and education, said at a press conference.

China became the world's largest net importer of soybean in 1996 with a total import of 1.11 million tons.

In the coming years, China will plant more non-GMO soybean and improve yields to fill the gap between supply and demand, Liao added.

By 2020, China will expand its soybean planting area to 140 million mu (9.3 million hectares), and yield per mu will be raised by 15 kilograms to 135 kilograms, according to an MOA statement on Tuesday.