China could accept grain imports of about 10 percent of the country's needs by the end of the decade, an official at a government-linked think tank said, indicating central planners are gradually revising self-sufficiency targets.
Declining farm acreage, coupled with rising food demand, mean more imports would be realistic, Ke Bingsheng, a director at the Rural Economic Research Center, an Agriculture ministry think tank, told a Beijing conference during the weekend.
"We think 90 percent self-reliance is more realistic, reasonable and reachable," Ke said. China could become a net rice importer by the end of this decade, he said. It is already expected to become a net corn importer by then.
Ke's view reflects a shift from officials' comments earlier this year that China would seek to cap imports at 5 percent of the country's needs through 2010. Imports have been at roughly that level for the past few years.