The seventh round of rice talks in Beijing between South Korea and China ended on Friday without agreement.

South Korean negotiators say the two countries will hold another round of talks. South Korea has been holding bilateral negotiations with nine rice exporting countries, including China, the United States, and Thailand, to discuss a wider opening of domestic rice markets to imports.

A spokesman for the South Korean delegation accused China of making unrealistic demands, calling it the toughest of the nine negotiating partners.

China reportedly wants South Korea to raise its obligatory import quota to 8.9 percent of annual average domestic consumption from the current four percent, in return for extending the minimum market access scheme granted under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks.

South Korea finds the demand difficult to accept, saying it would drive local farmers out of business, since imported rice is about four times cheaper than domestically produced rice.

Some 14,000 farmers protesting the government’s plan for further opening of local rice markets clashed with riot police in downtown Seoul earlier this week.

Under a 1994 agreement at the Uruguay Round talks, South Korea
was given the right to limit rice imports to under four percent of domestic consumption for ten years. South Korea is obliged to conclude a new agreement with individual exporters by the end of this year.