Corn crop to be reduced

China plans to cut its corn acreage by close to 670,000 hectares in 2016, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday, as the country comes under mounting pressure to reduce its corn stocks.

Pan Weibo, deputy director with the Department of Crop Production under the ministry, said the country will promote the growing of silage corn, beans, other coarse grains and forage grass in parts of 13 provincial areas to replace the corn acreage.

China's corn acreage reached 37 million hectares in 2014, and is expected to increase by 1.9 percent this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The nation's combined grain reserve stands at 230 million metric tons, the largest in the world, China Business News reported.

The country's corn stocks are expected to reach 906 million tons by the end of the 2015-16 market years, the report said.

Pan said the western parts of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces will be a key area for the reduction in corn acreage. Other parts include Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces.

"Most of the areas are located in drought-prone regions, and the weather plays an overwhelming role in the total production of corn," he said, adding that there is a significant shortage of high-quality forage in those areas.

The country plans to reduce corn acreage by 3.3 million hectares by the end of 2020 in the 13 provincial areas, according to a guideline issued by the ministry earlier this month.

Pan estimated that the reduction in corn acreage in 2020 will help reduce corn production by 25 million tons, and thus help further reduce corn stocks.

The purchasing price for corn is down by more than 20 percent compared with last year in some corn growing provinces, according to the State Administration of Grain.

Meanwhile, the price gap between domestic produce and imported produce remained at high levels as a result of the country's grain stockpile plan, which is aimed at protecting the interests of farmers.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report in April that world cereal supplies have been boosted by record crops in 2014.

The abundant supplies reduced international prices of most food commodities, the report said.

However, the price of domestic produce continues to rise as a result of rising costs.

Additionally, agricultural processing companies continue to increase the imports of corn and products that can substitute for corn due to lower international prices.

In September, the price of corn per ton at the international market was 923 yuan ($145) lower than domestic produce, according to the grain administration.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn