CHINA WTO ENTRY SEEN BOOSTING SOYOIL IMPORTS

ROTTERDAM, June 19 (Reuters) - China's entry to the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) will boost world trade in edible oils by about twomillion tonnes and increase China's imports of soyoil by 78 percent after10 years, a USDA researcher said.China -- which has agreed to a series of tariff cuts for oilseeds andproducts -- is expected to join the WTO late this year or early next.Accession to the WTO would have the greatest impact on soyoil partlybecause no specific terms were agreed for soybeans and soymeal, Hsin-HuiHsu, an agricultural economist with the United States Department ofAgriculture, said on Tuesday.By the 2010/11 crop year, Chinese imports of soyoil are expected tojump to 2.7 million tonnes compared to 1.5 million if China was not amember of the WTO, Hsu told the Lipidex 2001 edible oils conference inRotterdam.Brazil is currently the biggest supplier of soyoil to China, accountingfor 44 percent, while the United States is second with a 25 percent share.Beijing agreed to tariff rate quotas (TRQ) for soyoil of 1.72 milliontonnes in the first year, rising to 3.26 million after five years. Thosetonnages would carry tariffs of nine percent compared to 74 percent fortonnages above the quota.After six years, the quota system would be abolished and a flat ninepercent tariff on soyoil would take force.Imports of soybeans and soymeal would also rise, but by a lesser amountthan soyoil -- 19 percent and 30 percent respectively, Hsu said.Imports of soymeal are seen bolstered by growth in the livestock sectorof about 3.3 percent per year.During the first decade of WTO membership, Chinese production ofsoybeans is expected to fall by 12.7 percent and crushing by 4.5 percent,Hsu said.China has also agreed to allow private trading companies to handle 50percent of TRQ imports in the first year, rising to 90 percent after fiveyears."That is a very big commitment. Everything in China is centrallycontrolled by the government," Hsu said.Consumers will benefit from China's entry to the WTO, with domesticsoyoil prices rising less than one percent during the first decadecompared a rise in world prices of around four percent.Wheat prices in China are seen falling 4.1 percent and corn prices byone percent, he added.