Economy

China's grain output rises 2.9 pct in 2010

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-03 13:51

BEIJING - China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday that the country's grain output rose 2.9 percent year on year in 2010 to 546.41 million tons.

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This marked the seventh consecutive year of growth for China's grain output.

The preliminary figure came from a sample survey in 31 provincial-level regions on the country's mainland, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

According to the survey, China's grain production areas expanded 0.8 percent from one year earlier to 109.87 million hectares this year.

The drought-ravaged southwestern regions, including Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, witnessed a remarkable decline in grain production this year. The combined grain output in the three provincial-level regions dropped 3.8 percent to 40.48 million tons from one year earlier, the NBS said.

China's northeastern areas and Inner Mongolia autonomous region, however, reported a 13.4-percent surge in grain production this year, with the total output reaching 117.79 million tons.

The consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of China's inflation, rose to a 25-month high of 4.4 percent in October. Food prices, which account for one-third of the basket of goods used to calculate the CPI, surged 10.1 percent.

The Chinese government is currently striving to boost agricultural produce supplies and crack down on price speculation in an effort to tackle inflation.