KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- Primary Industries Minister Datuk SeriDr Lim Keng Yaik said Malaysia hopes that China, which has just joined theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO), will adhere to the true spirit of tradeliberalisation.

He said this in noting that China has delayed the announcement ofdistribution of import quota to March 4, 2002 instead of early January.

"Now, we have to wait until March for China to make the final announcementon the distribution of the import quota which it was supposed to haveannounced earlier," he said.

Dr Lim said this at a press conference after opening the Malaysian PalmOil Board (MPOB) First Industry Seminar: Carbon Finance For The Palm OilSector, here Monday.

On Feb 8, China's State Development Planning Commission said that it wouldallow imports of 2.4 million tonnes of palm oil this year.

Malaysia hopes to get a big chunk of the quota.

Out of the 2.4 million tonnes, 1.4 million tonnes were given to individualimporters, 200,000 tonnes for counter-trade purpose and 800,000 tonnes tostate enterprises.

Dr Lim said that the demand for palm oil in China was certainly more thanthe 2.4 million tonnes quota and that if there was no foreign exchangeavailability, the 2.4 million quota would not be achieved.

"Even if a lot were given to individuals and state enterprises, it willdepend on the availability of foreign exchange for them before they canimport the palm oil," Dr Lim said.

"China has foreign exchange reserves worth US$150 billion ((RM570 billion)and they are not short of it," he noted.

In 2001, Malaysia produced 11.8 million tonnes of palm oil, an increase ofone million tonnes from the previous year.

Dr Lim said that there would be a meeting between Malaysia and Indonesianext week concerning the matter.

This year's quota is one million tonnes higher than in 2001 followingChina's entrance into the WTO.

-- BERNAMA