China Reaps in Less Summer CropsThe harvest of summer crops in China totaled 101.88 million tons this year, 4.91 million tons less than last year.The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that the decrease in grain output was mainly due to the reduced planting area of summer crops. Chinese farmers took the initiative to plant less crops as the market price of grain dropped. NBS figures show that the planting area of summer crops totaled 28.25 million hectares, 1.33 million ha less than last year. Droughts in some areas of the country also contributed to the reduction in grain yields this summer. In addition, the per unit yield of grain also dropped 0.1 percent over last year, due to less input by farmers. Most of the major grain producing provinces in the country saw output reductions. The provinces of Shandong, Sichuan, Hebei and Jiangsu saw the largest drops in grain output. |
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