国内英语新闻:China's legislature conducts inquiry into gov't report on grain safety

When asked whether the influx of foreign capital affected China's grain safety, the NDRC's vice minister, Peng Sen, said foreign companies mainly invest in the processing of cooking oil, feed, and grain in China.

For example, foreign companies produced about 50 percent of the country's edible vegetable oil, according to Peng.

Foreign companies brought with them advanced technologies, management experiences and capital and promoted competition in the industry, but they had, to some extent, negatively impacted the country's market regulations, supply guarantees, and stabilization of grain prices, Peng said.

Peng added that the government would take measures, which are in line with World Trade Organization rules, to step up management on foreign investment in the industry to create fair competition and healthy development.

Responding to a question on whether China's grain prices would experience major fluctuations in the future amid a marked rise in farm produce prices in the international market, the NDRC's vice minister, Zhang Xiaoqiang, said the government could ensure no major fluctuations occur in the grain market.

Zhang said though natural disasters this year hampered the grain harvest, the country has enough grain in storage to head off any problems.

In addition, China's imported wheat, corn and rice only account for less than 1 percent of its respective output, so the international price hike would have little impact on domestic prices, he said.

Responding to lawmakers' concerns about the diminishing cultivated land area in China, Vice Land and Resources Minister Wang Shiyuan said, though the government has successfully curbed the decrease in cultivated areas, the situation was still "grave."

China's cultivated land area decreased by 123 million mu (about 8.2 million hectares) from 1997 to 2009, he said.

The government would enhance control and supervision on the planning of land use and improve specific laws to ensure the demand of cultivated land for the country's grain security, Wang said.