China's wheat output rises 0.6% despite flood risks across key crop areas

BEIJING: China’s winter wheat production rose 0.6% this year, official data showed on Friday, despite flooding challenges in several major agricultural regions in the country.

Output from the world’s top wheat grower increased to 138.95 million tons, up from 138.16 million metric tons a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

The area planted with wheat fell 0.3% from last year, declining by about 666,00 hectares to 23.01 million hectares. China’s total summer grain production reached 150.74 million tons, up 1 million tons, or 0.7%, from the previous year.

Meanwhile, the total area sown with summer grains edged down 0.2% year-on-year to 26.53 million hectares.

Despite last year’s rains delaying winter wheat planting, favourable weather during the growing season and effective pest control supported strong crop development, while government-backed measures helped weak seedlings recover, Wei Fenghua, head of the Rural Surveys Department at the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

Timely rain in northern wheat-growing areas also boosted yields, particularly for dryland wheat, he added.

In late May, heavy and prolonged rainfall lashed central Hubei and parts of Henan, China’s largest wheat-producing province, just as farmers entered the harvest period. Henan accounts for more than a quarter of China’s wheat production.

Analysts estimated that excessive rainfall caused between 4.8 million and 10 million tons of wheat to sprout, a relatively limited and manageable volume, as drier weather after the rains in major production areas helped contain the damage.

China, the world’s biggest wheat producer and consumer, typically meets most of its requirements from domestic supplies, buying only limited quantities of top-grade grains.