July 9, 2009

Despite persistent rainy weather in the major production region in the northeast, an official Chinese grain think-tank kept its estimate for the country's corn and soy output unchanged in its latest forecast.

The continuous raining weather during wheat harvest in parts of central and northern wheat-growing areas have hurt wheat quality but the output was unchanged from last month's estimate, said the China National Grain and Oils Information Centre (CNGOIC) in its latest report on Wednesday (Jul 8).

According to the centre's forecast, China's corn output in 2009 is expected to fall 1.8 percent to 163 million tonnes while soy output is seen 3.2 percent lower to reach 15 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, the country's wheat output in 2009 is forecasted to rise 0.7 percent to hit 113.2 million tonnes.

An analyst with the centre said possible better weather at a later stage could offset the impact on corn and soy that had experienced too much rain in June.

China's weather bureau said on Tuesday (Jul 7) that normal or less-than-normal rainfall was forecasted in most of the northeastern areas in the next 10 days.

Jilin and Heilongjiang, the major corn and soy growing provinces in the northeast, were hit by rainy weather and low temperatures for the most part of June, which could lead to reduced yields and delayed maturity of the crops, weather officials have warned.