**SHANGHAI: China’s corn output rose 4.6% in 2021 from the previous year to stand at 272.6 million tonnes, the statistics bureau said on Monday. The annual official number came as the market closely watched the new corn crop in the world’s second largest consumer of the grain, after the planting acreage rose on soaring prices.

Chinese farmers dumped other crops for corn to cash in on record prices during the planting season, though heavy rains in the north hit the harvest, lowering output and damaging the quality of some of the crop.**

China’s 2021 corn planting acreage was up 5% from the previous year at 650 million mu (43.32 million hectares), thanks to the rising prices, the bureau said in a separate statement on its website, citing an official.