China expects 120M tons summer crop

BEIJING, June 23 (UPI) -- China expects a bumper summer grain harvest of 120 million tons, the fifth consecutive year of such record output, despite major natural disasters.

The output will be 2.5 million tons more than last year, Chinese Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai said, Xinhua reported.

Summer crops usually account for about 23 percent of the nation's annual grain output.

The minister said this the first time China has achieved five years of consecutive bounty harvest since the Communist party took over in 1949.

Sun said direct subsidies and other incentives to farmers helped overcome major disasters such as the winter freeze and the recent earthquake as well as pest invasions, the report said.

Farm subsidies this year will soar 85 percent to $13.8 billion, the minister said.

The record crop output comes at a time when China is facing a sharp jump in inflation blamed largely on rising food prices.