China's agriculture sector withstands COVID-19 epidemic

BEIJING - China's agriculture sector logged robust performance in the first quarter of the year despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, an official said Tuesday.

Wei Baigang, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said at a press conference that the country recorded a 3.5 percent year-on-year increase in the added value of the country's planting industry and had sufficient daily food supplies.

China has favorable conditions to achieve a bumper summer grain harvest as the spring planting has proceeded smoothly, said Wei, noting that agriculture-related enterprises have all returned to their normal capacity.

"We are confident and capable of achieving a bumper grain harvest for the whole year," he said.

The resumption of hog production has made headway, with the breeding sows in stock expanded by 9.8 percent from the end of 2019, he said.

Wei also noted that the pork prices have kept retreating for ten consecutive weeks, while the prices of other farm produce are back to pre-outbreak levels as the output recovers.

The stable performance of the agricultural sector has provided strong support for China's epidemic control and overall development, he said.