China’s 2021 wheat output in summer harvest rises

BEIJING: China harvested more wheat this summer due to increased acreage planted and grain yield, the country’s statistics bureau said on Wednesday.

Output of summer wheat, which accounts for most of the country’s wheat production, rose 2percent from 2020 to 134 million tonnes, the National Statistics Bureau said in a statement on its website.

Quality of the new crop in some top growing areas, however, might have been compromised due to bad weather, analysts said.

Heavy rainfalls in parts of the main producing provinces, including Shandong, Henan, Hebei and Hubei, before and during the harvest time, hit the new crop and damaged the quality, according to analysts. The market is closely watching the impact from the rains on this year’s crop. Wheat acreage and yield rose 0.9percent and 1.1percent from the previous year respectively, the statistics bureau said. China’s total summer grain output in 2021 rose 2.1percent from the previous year to 145.82 million tonnes, the bureau also said.

The output increase came as planting acreage of summer grain, mainly wheat, rose 1percent from the previous year, the first jump in six years, according to the statement.

Party and government authorities at local levels implemented the most strict land protection systems while the state stepped up support for grain production, and raised the minimum purchase price for wheat, the statistics bureau said, when listing reasons behind the acreage recovery.

Beijing has strengthened its policy focus on food security after the COVID-19 pandemic and taken measures to bolster grains supplies in the world’s top population. The government also stabilised grain growing subsidies for farmers and supported them to grow crops on abandoned land and cultivate fields that usually lied fallow in winter times, the statistics bureau said.