BEIJING (Reuters) – China will adopt strong and effective measures to ensure the stable production and supply of corn and rice, state media cited Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua as saying on Friday.
The entire nation would make great effort to boost corn output to meet the gap between corn demand and production, Hu was quoted as saying during a video conference. Areas with declining corn planting should speed up the recovery, Hu said.
He emphasized that joint efforts should be made to ensure corn planting areas and output in the corn regions stabilise at last year’s levels.
China should strengthen regulation on the demand for the processing of corn, and strictly control the use of corn for fuel, Hu was quoted as saying.
This year’s corn production is threatened by China’s recent COVID-19 curbs that caused a supply crunch of fertilisers to the country’s northeastern bread basket, though Beijing has repeatedly called for all-out efforts to guarantee successful harvests.
(Reporting by Ella Cao and Dominique Patton; editing by David Evans)
