August 31, 2006

China to lose 1.5 million tonnes of corn to drought

Drought continues to wither China's north-east and south-west and would probably cause a loss of over 1.5 million tonnes in corn production this year, the China Feed Industry Association said on its website Thursday (Aug 31).

The corn output is expected to drop by 400,000 tonnes in Chongqing municipality and 1.05 million tonnes in Sichuan province in the south-west, due to ongoing drought, the association said.

Corn production totaled around 8 million tonnes in Chongqing and Sichuan last year, according to the China National Grain & Oils Information Centre.

The drought has hit over 1 million hectares of farmland in Liaoning province, of which over 40 percent, or 412,200 hectares was seriously affected, it added, without providing information about the loss in production.

Liaoning is a major grain-producing region, with acreage reaching 3.12 million hectares this year. Rice and corn acreage stand at 581,900 and 1.89 million hectares, respectively.

The CNGOIC estimated that China's corn output would hit 142 million tonnes in 2006.

Corn prices jumped by RMB20/tonne to reach RMB1,400/tonne in Sichuan this week, thanks to the drought, local traders said.

China has been suffering from a severe drought since the beginning of July and the situation is especially serious in the south-west and north-east.

At the end of 2005, China had around 104.2 million hectares in grain acreage.