Cold weather undermines China's wheat crop growth

Wheat crops in most of China's producing areas failed to grow as well as in the previous years due to persistent low temperature in last year's winter.

Currently, winter wheat crops in areas along the Yellow and Huaihe Rivers, and the regions along Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers are returning green; those in northern and northwestern areas are in wintering period, and those in southwestern regions are in shooting period.

The Ministry of Agriculture had already dispatched working groups after the Spring Festival to 13 major producing regions to supervise field management in early spring.

The China National Grain and Oils Information Centre estimated that the country's wheat output and planting area would respectively reach 114.95 million tonnes and 24.21 million hectares in 2009, up 2.2% and 2.5%, respectively, from 2008.