A cold spell hitting the northern part of China will have limited impact on autumn harvest, and grain prices are likely to remain stable, agricultural experts said on Monday, as the majority of the crops have been harvested before the extreme weather arrived.
The China Meteorological Administration on Monday issued an alert, warning that North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the three provinces in Northeast China will see a strong snowfall, and the cold spell will bring freezing temperatures to a large swath of North China.
Meteorological experts warned that the extreme weather, coupled with precipitation and gusty winds, will have some impact on local transportation, agriculture and human health, suggesting local governments keep a close eye on potential disasters to be caused by severe snowstorms in the northeast and heavy rain in the south.
As the regions hit by the cold spell are China’s main agricultural areas, many are wondering about the impact on the fall harvest.
“The extreme weather will have a limited impact on the country’s autumn harvest, as the majority of crops have been harvested and dried,” Li Guoxiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.
As of October 23, some 81.3 percent of China’s autumn grain crops were harvested with most provinces achieving growth, said Pan Wenbo, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Zhang Shenglong, a farmer from Changchun, Northeast China’s Jilin Province, told the Global Times on Monday that all of his crops had been harvested before the cold wave. However, a sudden blizzard has frozen highways and power grid, disrupting transportation and power supplies, he said.
Gao Guangyong, another farmer from Jilin Province, said that the snowstorm may damage the support structure and temperature controls at the local greenhouse, “but the impact is limited,” he told the Global Times on Monday.
Li also said that the cold weather may temporarily impede or halt transportation in the disaster-hit regions, but crop prices will remain stable as the overall food supply in the Chinese market is sufficient.
The autumn harvest in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, a major grain production base, has concluded, the provincial agriculture bureau said on October 3. A bumper harvest is expected for the 20th consecutive year, despite the impact of summer floods and rainstorms there.
As of October 30, more than 233.1 million mu (15.54 million hectares) of crops had been harvested, of which about 227.6 million mu were grain crops. Apart from a few corn plots scheduled for winter harvesting, the autumn harvest in Heilongjiang Province has completed.
China’s annual grain output is expected to hit a record high in 2023, with a total of more than 1.3 trillion jin (650 billion kg) for the ninth consecutive year, while the output for the autumn harvest is set to increase, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on October 23, assuring the nation’s food security.
(Global Times)
