Saddled with a substantial stockpile of corn, Chinese farmers will switch to other crops including soybean and coarse grains this year, a senior official said today.
China will reduce its corn planting area by around 670,000 hectares, agriculture minister Han Changfu said at a teleconference.
China has a substantial corn stockpile after years of support for corn growing. The area under cultivation hit 37 million hectares in 2015, up from 23 million hectares in 2001.
Previously China used to import substantial quantities of corn from US.
Due to the reduced planting area, China's corn output is forecast to fall by 4 per cent year on year to 215 million tonnes in 2017.
Corn imports are expected to plunge by around 70 per cent to 1 million tonnes this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
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