Wen | Li Tong, He Miao, Gu Lexiao Editor| Chen Chen
On November 4, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that the current grain output is abundant, the inventory is sufficient, the national vegetable production is generally normal, except for spinach, rapeseed, lettuce, celery and other leafy vegetables due to the disaster slightly reduced production, the area and output of other major varieties have increased slightly, and the total supply is sufficient.
Speaking of grain first, this year there is not only no shortage of grain, but the output is still higher than in previous years. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, grain production this year will hit a record high, stable at more than 1.3 trillion catties for seven consecutive years. Previously, food production was also increasing. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the national grain output in 2020 will be about 1.34 trillion kilograms, an increase of more than 10 billion kilograms for two consecutive years.
Corn, rice and wheat are the three main staple foods. In 2020, the total output of corn, rice and wheat in the country will be about 600 million tons, accounting for more than 90% of the total grain output. Among them, corn production is the largest, accounting for nearly 40%, and rice and wheat account for 31.6% and 20.1% respectively.
The three major staple foods have basically achieved self-sufficiency and low dependence on foreign countries. According to wind data, the foreign dependence of China's three major staple foods has long been less than 10%. According to the "China Agricultural Industry Development Report 2020", in 2019, the self-sufficiency rate of China's three major staple grains of rice, wheat and corn reached 98.75%.
Since the beginning of this year, the three major staple grains have achieved increased production. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, rice production has remained stable and increased this year, wheat production has reached a record high, and corn production has also increased a lot. From the inventory point of view, wheat stocks can meet the consumption demand of 1 and a half years. From the perspective of processing capacity, the rice noodles processed in 1 day are enough for the people of the whole country to eat for 2 days.
There is no shortage of cooking oil. From the perspective of balances, according to the "Analysis of the Supply and Demand Situation of China's Agricultural Products" released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in October, the estimated balance of edible vegetable oil in 2020/21 is 2.93 million tons, and the forecast value of edible vegetable oil balance in 2021/22 is 2.29 million tons. Recently, the main producing areas of winter rapeseed have successively entered the preparation stage. In October, most of the southern part of the light and temperature conditions are good, which is conducive to the breeding of winter rapeseed seedlings and subsequent transplanting.
From the perspective of sown area, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the national vegetable area will reach 320 million mu this year. Combined with previous data, from 2018 to 2021, the national vegetable sowing area has exceeded 300 million mu for four consecutive years.
From the perspective of output, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the national vegetable output this year will reach 750 million tons, an increase of about 1% over the previous year. Combined with previous data, as of 2021, the national vegetable production has achieved growth for 10 consecutive years.
Recently, the price of vegetables has risen more, but with the development of the work of ensuring supply and stabilizing prices in various places, the overall price increase of vegetables has narrowed, and the prices of green leafy vegetables such as spinach and lettuce in many areas have begun to fall significantly.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, it is expected that in the next three months, the supply of vegetables can reach 200 million tons, an increase of 7 million tons. That is to say, 3 pounds of dishes can be provided for each person per day. At the same time, the "main provinces" of winter and spring vegetable production have an area of 91.3 million mu of vegetables in the field, an increase of 3.5 million mu year-on-year, and as these areas continue to enter the peak season of vegetable harvesting, they can effectively increase and ensure market supply.
According to incomplete statistics on interface data, many places across the country have introduced measures to ensure the supply of vegetables and other daily necessities. Specific measures include increasing the allocation of vegetables, releasing reserve vegetables, and exempting some wholesale markets from vegetable entry transaction fees.