Beijing | Reuters – Recent rainfall in China’s northeastern breadbasket has relieved drought across most of the region, an agriculture ministry official said Friday, but risks remain with the El Nino weather pattern potentially bringing more extreme weather this summer.
China is the world’s second-biggest corn producer and about 40 per cent of its crop comes from the northeast.
Read Also
U.S. livestock: Cattle strength continues
Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were stronger on Friday, hitting fresh highs to end the week.
More than 20 million mu (1.33 million hectares) in the region was impacted by drought in May and June, Pan Wenbo, director of the agriculture ministry’s Planting Management Department, told a press briefing.
Rainfall since late June has effectively replenished soil moisture and “basically eased the drought”, with only 1 million mu (66,666 hectares) of farmland still affected in Inner Mongolia, he said.
For now, autumn grain is maturing at a normal rate, said Pan, and the area planted with corn has increased due to a good market price.
However risk from pests is increasing, with the fall armyworm spreading further north than normal for this time of year, he added.
The ministry is also making preparations for drought later in the summer and for early frost, both more likely this year, Pan said.
China is also facing an oversupply of hogs, with increased production from last year and weak pork demand pressuring prices, said Chen Guanghua, head of the ministry’s Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau, speaking at the same briefing.
“Although the consumption has increased compared with the same period last year, the growth rate is lower than market expectations, and the price support is weak,” he said.
Hog production is still growing, added Chen, with the number of newborn piglets in the first half of the year rising by 9.1 per cent year-on-year.
“There is no basis for a sharp rise in hog prices in the short term,” he said.
–Reporting for Reuters by Ningwei Qin, Andrew Hayley and Dominique Patton.
