CHINA has enough supplies of grain to meet demand for a year, an official with the United Nations said yesterday.

The nation may significantly improve crop yields to offset a drop in farm land and labor, Zhang Zhongjun, assistant representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization's China office, said in an interview.

Global grain prices jumped to records this year on rising bio-fuel production and adverse weather, according to Bloomberg News. Chinese grain prices won't match gains in world rates because output has risen the past three years and farmers have stored grain, Zhang said.

"China's strategy is to rely on itself" for food security, he said in Beijing, marking World Food Day. "In some ways, China staying out of the world grain market makes it more stable."

Corn prices in Chicago advanced 15 percent in the past year after the United States introduced policies to increase ethanol produced from corn.

"You can argue China's pursuit of self-sufficiency doesn't make economic sense" given its limited resources, Zhang said.