China maintains stable grain production: official

This aerial photo taken on May 10, 2023 shows farmers driving reapers to harvest wheat in Chongzhou, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China has maintained steady development in terms of its grain production, said Cong Liang, head of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, at a press conference Thursday.

The country's staple food self-sufficiency rate is above 100 percent, Cong said at the press conference hosted by the State Council Information Office, adding that cereal self-sufficiency rate stands above 95 percent.

China has consistently kept its farmland area above the red line of 1.8 billion mu (about 120 million hectares), and has secured a bumper harvest for the 19th year in a row, Cong said.

The country's per capita share of grain stands at about 480 kg, higher than the internationally recognized security line of 400 kg, Cong noted.

China's annual grain purchase averaged at 400 billion kg, according to Cong.

The central government raised the minimum purchase price of wheat by 4 cents per kilogram this year to 2.34 yuan (about 0.34 U.S. dollars) to protect farmers' benefits, said Lu Jingbo, deputy head of the NFSRA at the press conference.

China's soybean output rose to a record high of more than 20 million tonnes in 2022, Lu said, well above the Chinese people's food consumption of soybeans, which stood at 13-15 million tonnes per year.