Wheat production in China drops 0.9% due to rain damage

Official data showed on Saturday that wheat production for the summer season in China fell 0.9 percent this year, the first decline in seven years as a result of heavy rains on major farming areas ahead of the harvest season.

The National Bureau of Statistics said that production in the world’s largest grain-producing country fell to 134.53 million tons.
However, this year there is still an abundance of crops, the bureau said.

The statistics office added that the area planted with wheat increased by 0.4 percent, but the yield fell by 1.3 percent.

The global wheat market is closely watching the dry weather in Canada and the United States, two of the main exporting countries, as well as the agreement on the export of grain through the Black Sea between Russia and Ukraine, which expires on Monday.

The decline in wheat production in China was largely due to heavy rains that lasted weeks and damaged the wheat crop in Henan province, the country’s largest province in terms of grain production, and the surrounding areas just before harvest.