(Yicai Global) May 19 -- China will produce more than 670 million tons of grain this year despite the Covid-19 pandemic reducing the area used to grow by about 1 percent.

The country will still have around 115 million hectares of land to plant grain, The Paper reported, citing a document published yesterday by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Yields will improve, mitigating the reduction in crops, and likely leading to an overall increase in output, it added.

China’s total grain output last year was 664 million tons, data from the National Bureau of Statistics show.

Covid-19 has severely hindered the transport of pigs, piglets and feed and the construction and expansion of hog farms and this is slowing down the pig rearing industry, the report added, but saying strong incentive policies should re-ignite the sector.

There will be over 300 million live pigs in China by the end of June and farmers will slaughter around 600 million throughout the course of this year, CASS said. It expects pork production to reach around 48 million tons this year, about 5 million more than last year when African swine fever swept the industry.

Editor: James Boynton