2011 China grain harvest rises for the eighth consecutive year

The China National Bureau of Statistics office released in a statement on Friday the country achieved another bumper agricultural harvest this year, the eighth consecutive year of growth for grain output and a record for food production.

Agricultural experts said the bumper harvest will help ease the country's food price hikes, facilitating the government's efforts to combat the stubbornly high inflation rate (official October CPI was +5.5% ). However, China's robust demand means the increased grain production is unlikely to check the country's growing imports, particularly for corn.

Bumper yields this year saw food output rising to a record 571 million tons, registering a 4.5 percent increase year-on-year. The production volume has already reached the government's grain output target for 2020, the bureau said.

Major Crops    Tonnes (millions)    Annual increase
Rice                          200                        + 2.6%
Wheat                       118                        + 2.4%
Corn                          192                        + 8.2%
Sub-total                   510
Others                         61
Total                          571                        + 4.5%

As China's urbanization process deepened, Chinese families consumed more meat in their daily diet, generating extra demand for corn as animal feed.

Meanwhile, industrial demand for starch and ethanol also increased, imposing upward pressure on corn imports. During the first nine months of this year, China imported 645,000 tons of corn according to data from grain.gov.cn, a website operated by the China National Grain and Oils Information Center.

In July, China ordered 533,000 tons of corn for delivery after August from the United States, according to the US Department of Agriculture, exceeding US estimates for Chinese's corn imports for the whole year.