PlanetArk 15 Apr 08;
BEIJING - China will have an ample harvest of winter wheat in 2008 as higher yields and increased acreage offset the impact of severe drought, industry officials said on Monday.
The winter wheat output will grow 1.3 percent this year to 102.6 million tonnes, lifting China's total wheat output, including spring wheat, to 107.6 million tonnes this year, up 2.5 percent from 2007, the China National Grain and Oil Information Centre said.
"This year is a normal year for winter wheat and the yield will increase by 2-7 percent," Mao Liuxi, a senior researcher with the China Meteorological Centre, told a conference in Beijing.
Still, a drought that has become the worst in decades is still affecting China's eastern Shandong and northern Hebei provinces, two major wheat growing regions, Mao said.
As of March 26, drought conditions had affected 19.4 million hectares (48 million acres) of arable land, mainly in northern China, including 3.3 million hectares of cropland, according to state media.
China will start to harvest winter wheat next month.
(Reporting by Niu Shuping; Writing by Langi Chiang; Editing by Ken Wills)
