China's grain production to hit 692m tons in 2025

China's grain production will hit 692 million tons and the self-sufficiency rate of staple grains such as rice and wheat will be 99.3 percent in 2025, according to the China Agricultural Sector Development Report 2021.

The report was jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and International Food Policy Research Institute on Tuesday.

"The grain production will keep increasing and China's food security will be absolutely guaranteed during the 14th Five-Year Plan period," said Mei Xurong, vice-president of the academy.

Last year, the agricultural development in China improved steadily despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic as grain production reached 669 million tons, the report said.

The soybean production increased to 19.6 million tons, up 8.3 percent year-on-year, and imports exceeded 100 million tons.

The production of other important crops remained stable, and the output of sugar and fruits declined, according to the report.

Last year, hog production maintained good recovery, with 527 million pigs slaughtered and 411.3 million of them used for pork output. Pork imports have reached a new record high of 4.39 million tons, Mei said.

"China has basically achieved self-sufficiency in seeds of three major grains," he added.