CHINA, the world's largest consumer of grains and meat, will import essential commodities, boost farm production and sell from state stockpiles to cover any food shortages and curb price gains, the government said yesterday.

The country will "appropriately increase imports of commodities that are in short supply," said the top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission.

Separately, the Ministry of Finance said sales from inventories would boost supplies, while extra funds and tax measures would support farming.

Higher imports, aimed at reining in 11-year high inflation, may further support a rally in global prices of many agricultural commodities, raising costs for food companies, Bloomberg News said.

China will have "no problem" meeting its demand for grains and vegetable oils, Nie Zhenbang, director of the State Grain Administration, said yesterday.

The government will "diligently implement" temporary price-control measures on basic items, the NDRC said on its Website.

The Ministry of Finance pledged to increase government funding to support agricultural production by 44.2 billion yuan (US$6.2 billion) from last year, or 17 percent.

Moreover, tax "leverage" will be used to support production of grain, vegetable oil, meat, dairy and vegetables, while imports and the sales of state reserves will help stabilize supplies and prices, the ministry said.

Soybean import tariffs will stay at a reduced level of one percent until the end of September, it said in a separate statement, compared with three percent before last October.

China's inflation rate tripled in 2007 from a year earlier as food and fuel costs rose. The price of pork rose 59 percent in January from a year earlier, while cooking oil climbed 37 percent.

Consumer prices gained 7.1 percent in January and the first-quarter pace may be 6.9 percent because of rising transport costs and disruptions to food supplies by snowstorms in late January, according to the State Information Center.