BEIJING —  An American film industry official said Thursday that China should lift barriers that block most movie imports, warning that they are fueling its thriving market for pirated titles and hurting Chinese studios.

Beijing allows in 20 foreign films for theatrical release each year, a tiny fraction of the hundreds produced, said Michael C. Ellis, senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific of the Motion Picture Association. He said the gap is filled by pirated DVD copies, which are believed to account for 93 percent of movies sold in China.

"There needs to be a recognition that there's not going to be progress until they open the market and build a legitimate film industry here that everyone can get into," Ellis said during an appearance before the Foreign Correspondents Club of China.

"Until that happens, you'll have this vacuum that pirates will plug with pirated products."

Film piracy is believed to have cost American studios $244 million in lost potential box office revenues in China last year, said Ellis, whose group is made up of the seven top Hollywood studios.

But he said estimated piracy losses to Chinese studios were far higher at the $2.4 billion.

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The 20-title Chinese import quota is based on commitments to the World Trade Organization. But the figure is controversial, with the United States saying it was meant to be a minimum, while Beijing treats it as an upper limit.

U.S. studios released 549 movies last year, according to Ellis.

Chinese officials are reluctant to ease import controls for fear of hurting China's studios. Foreign movies are hugely popular in China, but the state film distributor removes them from cinemas during holidays and other high-viewership periods.

China is regarded as the world's leading source of illegally copied goods, ranging from movies and music to software, designer clothes, sporting goods and medications.

Beijing has increased penalties in recent years. But pirated movies are still widely sold in shops, with new Hollywood releases often available just days after they appear in theaters abroad and long before legitimate DVDs are issued.

Ellis, a former Hong Kong policeman, praised Chinese officials for cracking down on piracy and a court system that he said is one of Asia's fastest-moving when handling such cases.

But he complained that some shops are still allowed to operate after being repeatedly being caught selling pirated movies.

And he said China should scrap laws that require pirates to make at least 100,000 yuan ($12,000) in profit before they can be prosecuted.

"We don't want any threshold. If somebody is selling pirated products, they are engaged in commercial piracy," Ellis said. "Our view is that the criminal thresholds don't work."

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