Posted on May, 27, 2021 at 08:14 am
China will be almost entirely self-sufficient in staple grains such as rice and wheat by 2025, according to the China Agricultural Sector Development Report released on May 25.
The report, jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and International Food Policy Research Institute, forecasts the country’s total grain production at 692 million tonnes by that year.
China’s overall grain output in 2020 was 669 million tonnes, the report said.
“The grain production will keep increasing and China’s food security will be absolutely guaranteed during the 14th Five-Year Plan period,” said Mei Xurong, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
The five-year plan runs from 2021-2025.
China, the world’s biggest wheat and rice producer, will continue to dominate global production in those two food grains.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) projects China’s wheat production to reach an all-time high of 136 million tonnes in 2021-22. It also forecasts wheat imports at 10 million tonnes, the second highest on record.
The FAS also sees China setting a record rice output in 2021-22 at 149 million tonnes, with imports coming in at 2.7 million tonnes, the second lowest total in the past 10 years.
The story is different, however, when it comes to soybeans and corn. Although China is projected to harvest a record soybean crop of 19 million tonnes in 2021-22, it still will remain far and away the largest importer with a record 103 million tonnes, according to the FAS.
It forecasts a record corn crop for China at 268 million tonnes in 2021-22 but also 26 million tonnes of imports, equaling this year’s record and nearly four times the amount it imported three years ago.
Source: World Grain