September 5, 2011

China's grain production base Henan province has purchased more than 12 million tonnes of new wheat from farmers, down 7.2 million tonnes from a year ago, according to the provincial grain department.

Henan's wheat purchases usually come to a close at the end of July. However, as the state wheat stockpiling programme has not started so far this year due to higher market prices than the protective price set by the government, market trading is dull.

Meanwhile, farmers generally hold wait-and-see stance on expectation for higher prices because quality of new wheat crop this year is better than last year, an official with the department said.

Farmers in the province still have about 15 million tonnes of wheat in hand, the official added.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that Henan's summer grain output reached 31.3 million tonnes in 2011, accounting for nearly 5% of the national total production.