China’s autumn grain harvest has passed 80% complete, according to the latest farm update from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. It was about 40% in early October and 70% on the 19th, and the harvest, which accounts for roughly three quarters of annual grain output, is entering its final stretch.
Xinhua reported on the 23rd, citing the ministry’s crop monitoring, that the national autumn grain harvest has passed 80%. By region, the northeast, northwest and Huang-Huai-Hai plains are all above 80%, the middle and lower Yangtze above 60%, and south China above 30%. Xinhua gave neither the increase since the last update nor the cut-off date of the data.
광고 문의 · 300×250Progress over two weeks
Pulling Chinese outlets together, progress went from around 40% in early October (China National Radio, 8th) to 70% ten days later (Guangming Online, 19th) and now 80%. In the 19th report, Huang-Huai-Hai and the southwest were above 80%, the northwest close to 80%, and the northeast and Yangtze belt above 60%. The northeast crossing 80% is the notable change.
Harvest and winter sowing side by side
Where harvests are finishing, winter crops are going in. Xinhua says national winter wheat sowing is above 30%, nearly 90% in the northwest, above 20% in Huang-Huai-Hai and the southwest, and only scattered in the middle and lower Yangtze. The 19th report put winter wheat at about 10% and winter rapeseed above 30%.
Purchasing is running in parallel. Guangming Online, citing the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, said that as of the 19th buyers had bought about 18 million tonnes of mid-to-late-season rice. Officials say they will combine market-based purchasing with policy-based stockpiling to keep farmers’ sales channels open and the market steady.
Total output and per-hectare yield for this year were not confirmed in these reports, so judgments about the harvest await later releases. What is confirmed is that the harvest is nearing its end on schedule.
