Bigger cereal purchases from global markets help ensure adequate stocks.

China has increased the flexibility of its grain imports by purchasing more cereals from the global markets at cheaper prices to ensure sufficient domestic stocks, prevent unexpected supply risks and ensure long-term food security.

The country imported 11.34 million metric tons of cereals during the first seven months of the year, up 80 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to data provided by the customs agency.

Li Guoxiang, deputy director of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, says that the rising grain imports do not pose any threat to the nation's food security.

With domestic wheat prices continuing to remain at high levels, many grain dealers have turned to imports to ensure adequate supplies in the market.

China introduced price floors for farm products in 2006 to protect farmers from price volatility. The government buys products such as wheat, corn and cotton for state reserves when market prices fall below the price floor.

Farm product prices in the United States and European Union are more market-driven, partly because of supply-demand relationships and the function of commodity markets such as the Chicago Board of Trade and London Commodity Exchange.

But the nation's minimum grain purchase prices have remained above world levels in the past three years, which prompted more imports of products such as soybeans, corn and cotton from the US, Argentina and India in 2013.

Summer grain output in the country hit a record high of 136.6 million metric tons in 2014, up 3.6 percent from last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics show.

Corn prices rose by 4 yuan to 2,380 yuan per metric ton on Aug 11, according to the corn future prices traded in the Dalian Commodity Exchange.

By Zhong Nan (China Daily Africa)

Contact the writer at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn