July 21, 2005

China expects spring wheat output to fall from last year

China's spring wheat output was expected to reach 4.72 million tonnes this year, a fall of 11 percent from that of last year, according to industry reports.

One main reason was that only about 1.42 million hectares of spring wheat were expected to be sown this year, a decrease of 0.11 million hectares or about 7 percent from last year.

The other reason was due to unfavourable rainy weather in north-east China, a major spring wheat producing region. The rains have hit at a time just before harvesting.

Spring wheat in the region is usually harvested in late July and early August annually.

However, a bigger winter wheat crop was expected to more than offset the decline in spring wheat output. As such, China's total wheat output this year was expected to be bigger than last year's.