(China Daily 01/09/2007 page4)

China's WTO accession has brought some changes and uncertainties, however. One of those is a trade deficit in agricultural products.

In 2004, for the first time since its WTO accession, China suffered a $4.64 billion deficit in farm product trade. The next year, it was $1.47 billion, 68 percent lower, and in the first 10 months of last year, it surged again to $2 billion.

But Cheng Guoqiang, senior agricultural expert with the State Council's Development Research Center, said the deficit may come to be regarded as a "normality" in the years ahead.

There is precedent for China's situation. Cheng said the experiences of Taiwan Province, South Korea and Japan, all industrialized economies, indicate a country goes through a period when it needs to import grain to make up for its shortage of raw materials (such as cotton and soybeans) as it steps into the stage of industrialization. (By Xin Zhiming , China Daily)