April 9, 2004

China Winter Wheat Ratings Improved

China's winter wheat conditions have improved and are now better than conditions at the same time last year, China's Ministry of Agriculture said Thursday.
 
In a report on its Chinese Web site, www.agri.gov.cn, the ministry said the ratings, however, are slightly lower than the recent five-year average level.
 
According to the report, the findings have been based on a survey conducted by the ministry in late March.
 
The winter crop in good condition in late March was estimated to be 36.3% of the total crop area, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the level of same period of 2003 and 5.9 percentage points from the level before the wheat crop entered dormancy during winter.
 
The crop in fair condition is estimated to be 41.5%, 0.2 percentage points higher on the year and 1.8 percentage points higher than the level before wheat entered dormancy.
 
Winter wheat crop in poor condition is 22.2%, 1.6 percentage points lower than the level in 2003, and 7.7 percentage points lower from the level before dormancy.
 
But compared with the five-year average, winter wheat crop with good ratings decreased by 2.5 percentage points, while crop with fair ratings increased by 1.4 percentage points, and crop with poor ratings increased by 1.1 percentage points, said the report.
 
In the 10 major wheat producing provinces, winter wheat ratings in Jiangsu, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui and Sichuan are better than that of last year. Crop condition in Gansu province was the same as that of the last season.
 
In Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and Hubei, the ratings were below last year's levels although better than the level before the winter.
 
China's winter wheat acreage in 2004-05 is pegged at 19.50 million hectares, down about 5% from acreage last season, and production is forecast to be only 78.11 million tons, down 4% from production last season, traders said, citing a forecast last week by a government-backed grain think tank.
 
China's wheat production has been falling consistently in the last four years. If the current forecast for production in 2004-05 proves correct, it will be the lowest production since 1984, traders said.