The Food and Agriculture Organization forecast that China's wheat imports for the 2013-14 crop year will hit 5 million tons. The forecast was based on June and July trade figures, which will be 2 million tons above the 2012-13 levels.

China imported 1.36 million tons of wheat in the first half of this year.

Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said it exported 426,000 tons of wheat to China in the first five months.

The China National Grain and Oils Information Center said China has placed a wheat order for 1.5 million tons from Australia in the past weeks.

"The reduction of China's wheat output has offered export opportunities for major wheat

producers throughout the world," said Wen Tiejun, dean of the school of agricultural economics and rural development at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

He added that a recent drop in wheat prices in the global market is also good news for China as an importer.

Wheat imported from Australia, the United States and France costs much less than wheat produced in China.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average US wheat price was $303 per ton on July 30, compared with $407 per ton at China's Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange

The rising price of corn has also prompted a number of Chinese livestock farms to purchase foreign wheat.

The China National Grain and Oils Information Center forecast that China will import 6.5 million tons of wheat from the international market in the 2013-14 crop year, a nine-year high.

"Adequately raising wheat imports is fairly useful to help China ease the pressure on wheat-related food prices," said Ding Lixin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.