May 27, 2009

China is expected to achieve its sixth consecutive summer grain bumper harvest in 2009 if no severe natural disaster occurs for the rest of the year, China's Minister of Agriculture Sun Zhengcai said Tuesday (May 26).

According to official statistics, China had achieved year-on-year growth in its annual grain output for five consecutive years from 2003 to 2008, hitting 528.5 million tonnes in 2008.

Summer grain output usually makes up about 23 percent of the country's total output.

Sun added that the bumper harvest this summer was not easy to achieve as the country had to overcome a series of difficulties in grain production including the blow from the global economic downturn, the severe drought in the northern regions early this year and persistent low temperature in south China.

China has kept grain self-sufficiency rate at 95 percent for 10 straight years.

The government had arranged RMB716.1 billion (US$104.8 billion) of funds for agricultural development this year, an increase of RMB120.6 billion (US$17.7 billion) over 2008. It had also raised the minimum purchase prices for grain.

To ensure grain security, China has set the annual grain output capacity to more than 550 million tonnes as of 2020, an increase of 50 million tonnes over the current output.