ASA: China Plans "Import Quota"

China's reported plan to halt soybean imports temporarily would violate its commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO), American Soybean Association (ASA)officials say.

"It will be a de facto import quota, if it is true,"

Stephen Censky, chief executive of ASA, told Reuters. "China has accepted during WTO negotiations...not to impose import quotas."

Censky told Reuters that the ASA wrote last week to the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office after picking up information on the proposed halt by the world's top soybean importer. ASA wants the agency to intervene, he says.

Editors note: Richard Brock, The Corn and Soybean Digest's Marketing Editor, is president of Brock Associates, a farm market advisory firm, and publisher of The Brock Report.

To see more market perspectives, visit Brock's Web site at www.brockreport.com.