China summer grain output at 123 million tonnes

China is set to produce 123 million tonnes from its summer grain harvest this year, Xinhua reported Thursday (June 24) citing a forecast from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Summer grain output would be up nearly one million tonnes from a year earlier, with the summer harvest likely close to last year's level, the state-controlled news agency, Xinhua said.

Winter wheat output this year is likely to be 109 million tonnes, also up nearly one million tonnes, it said.

"Winter wheat has been harvested from 308 million mu (20.5 million hectares), or 90.4% of the nation's wheat-growing farm land," Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu was quoted as saying during an inspection of farmland in Hebei province. The mu is a traditional Chinese unit of measurement for arable land.

Based on the forecast yield, output is likely to be better than expected, Han said in the report. He said the improved yield could be attributed to an expansion of land under wheat cultivation by 34,684 hectares compared with last year.

China's total grain output last year reached a record high of 530.8 million tonnes, the sixth consecutive year of output growth.