China corn output hits record

BEIJING: China produced a record corn crop this year, up 4% compared to a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, with an increase in the area planted with the grain more than compensating for damage caused by summer typhoons.

Output of 288.84 million metric tons matched earlier forecasts by the agriculture ministry and adds to bumper corn crops from other big global producers that have weighed on global prices.

Corn production in China, the world’s No. 2 grower, rose as Beijing continued to give subsidies to farmers planting staple grains in a push for food security. Corn acreage rose 2.7%, or 1.15 million hectares, from a year earlier to 44.2 million hectares (109 million acres), the most land sown with the grain since at least 2015.