China and Ukraine signed a protocol earlier this month, which will allow Ukrainian corn to enter the Chinese market by the end of the year, Mykola Prysiazhniuk, Ukraine's minister of Agrarian Policy, said on Tuesday.

"The protocol allows us to export corn to China," said the minister.

The export potential of Ukrainian corn in the 2012-2013 marketing year is estimated at 12.5 million tons, of which 3 million tons have already been exported, according to Ukrainian official data.

Meanwhile, China released a total import tariff quota of 6 million tons of corn for this year. The quota for the next year will likely reach 8 million tons, according to industry analysts.

During the first eight months of the year, China's corn imports jumped by a staggering 723 percent from a year earlier to 3.73 million tons. Most of the imported corn was from the United States.

"The potential of China as a consumer of grain crops, particularly corn, has been steadily increasing, and Ukraine, along with other major exporters such as Brazil and Argentina, can cover the needs of China in this regard," said Oleg Bakhmatyuk, chairman of the board of UkrLandFarming, the largest agricultural company in Ukraine.

According to ULF, Ukrainian corn is expected to be popular in the Chinese market because its price could be 25 percent lower than US corn and also because it's not genetically modified.

zhousiyu@chinadaily.com.cn