September 20, 2006

China's winter wheat production to increase close to 10 percent
 

China's winter wheat production is expected to increase 10 percent from the 91.4 million tonnes in 2005 to 99.3 million tonnes this year even as acreage fell, according to the Ministry of Agriculture Wednesday (Sep 20).

Total agricultural acreage of winter crops is expected to exceed 46 million hectares.

China would continue to expand the acreage of high-quality wheat and increase per-hectare production by about 1 percent, the ministry said.

Wheat output per hectare is around 4,560 kilogrammes this year, according to the China National Grain & Oils Information Centre, a major government backed think tank.

China's acreage of winter wheat was 21.8 million hectares last year, up from 21.1 million hectares in 2004.