China achieves bumper summer grain harvest

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- China has seen another year with a bumper summer grain harvest despite the impact of adverse weather, official data showed Saturday.

The country's summer grain output totaled 146.13 million tonnes this year, down 0.9 percent or 1.27 million tonnes year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China's summer grain sown area has grown for three consecutive years, rising to 26.61 million hectares in 2023. Over 23 million hectares of wheat were sown, up 0.4 percent year on year.

To galvanize farmers to grow grain, the central government continued to raise the minimum purchase price of wheat, and provided them with one-time subsidies, said Wang Guirong, an official with the bureau.

"The bumper harvest of summer grain will lay a solid foundation for stabilizing annual grain production, and provide strong support for promoting sustained economic recovery," Wang said.