November 18, 2005

 

China's Hebei 2005 corn output to rise; acreage, yield up
 

 

Corn output this year in China's northern Hebei province was expected to rise to 16.97 million tonnes from 16.35 million tonnes in 2004, a government report said recently.

 

But farmers' incomes from the crop have not been increasing, due to lower prices and higher costs.

 

Corn acreage in Hebei, one of China's major corn planting provinces, is about 2.68 million hectares in 2005, up from 2.63 million hectares last year, Hebei Prices Bureau said in a report posted on the State Grain Administration's website Thursday.

 

Corn yield was expected to have risen 2 percent to 6.34 tonnes/hectare, mostly on good weather and agricultural inputs such as better seeds.

 

However, farmers' incomes have not increased along with the bumper crop because of falling corn prices and rising production costs.

 

Local farmers sold corn at RMB1,157.40/tonne, 4.33 percent lower than last year's RMB1,209.8/tonne, according to the bureau.

 

And corn production costs have increased 4.22 percent to RMB5,162.55/hectare, with prices of seeds, chemical fertilisers, agricultural machinery and water up by 20.15 percent, 10.09 percent, 8.97 percent and 65 percent, respectively.

 

With an expanded acreage and better yield across the country, market participants generally took a bearish view on corn prices, the bureau said.

 

It did not make any forecast as to whether corn planting next year would probably be reduced due to falling profitability this year.

 

Aside from Hebei province, Jilin, Shandong, Henan, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia were also big producers of corn.