January 25, 2011

China's 2011 grain output to climb 0.5%

China's grain output will likely increase by 0.5% from a year earlier to 549 million tonnes in 2011 due to a slight rise in acreage, the Centre for Forecasting Science under the Chinese Academy of Science said over the weekend.

The centre's grain output estimate might be the first such forecast released by a state-owned research institute.

The government's protective grain purchase policies and its stress on grain production, as well as rising grain prices, will encourage farmers to grow more grain crops in 2011, the centre said, adding that science and technology will also play a more important role in raising grain output in 2011.

China said it harvested 546.4 million tonnes of grains in 2010, a 2.9% increase from 2009.

The centre also expected cotton output in 2011 to be about 6.5 million tonnes and acreage to increase about 3% from 2010.

The Ministry of Agriculture has pledged to stabilise this year's grain output at more than 500 million tonnes.