Trends in grain production

Abstract

Grain is China's most significant agricultural product, its output being the most watched indicator by government officials, traders and researchers both inside and outside China. In this chapter, we examine China's grain production trends in the recent decade. To understand China's grain production and how its trend evolves,it is useful to appreciate the characteristics of China's grain production, the subject of the next section. In Section 3.2, we examine changes in total grain output and in grain crop composition. Section 3.3 highlights the dynamics in regional distribution of grain production. Changes in production technologies and costs are presented in Section 3.4. In Section 3.5, we address a number of emerging issues that are likely to affect future grain production.