Beijing, Dec 2 (IANS) China saw a bumper harvest of grain this year, with its output rising to a record high of 571 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.
The strong harvest marked eight consecutive years of growth for China’s grain output, the NBS said in a statement posted on its website.
Yields of summer grain, early rice and autumn grain totaled 126.27 million tonnes, 32.76 million tonnes and 412.18 million tonnes this year, up 2.5 percent, 4.5 percent and 5.1 percent year-on-year, respectively, said Xinhua.
The output of the country’s three major crops — rice, wheat and corn — hit 510.45 million tonnes this year, the statement said, adding that a sharp increase in corn output showed further improvement in the country’s grain production structure.
The country’s 13 major grain-producing regions, including the provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu and Anhui, saw their output rise 5.4 percent from one year earlier to 434.22 million tonnes in 2011, the statement said.
The country reaped 546.48 million tonnes of grain last year.
