World Agricultural Production: Corn Harvest in Eastern China

China's 2014/15 corn production is estimatedat 214.0 million tons, down 3.0 million tons or1.0 percent from last month and down 4.5million tons or 2.0 percent from last year'srecord crop. Area is estimated at 36.8 millionhectares, surpassing last year's record by 1.0percent. Area has shown a strong upward trendin recent years, particularly in Northeast China, as farmers have switched to corn from less profitable crops such as soybeans. Yield isestimated at 5.82 tons per hectare, down 1percent from last month and down 3.4 percentfrom last year's record. The revision is basedon information from crop models and satelliteimagery, and reports from local government and industry sources.A serious drought developed in July and August in parts of Northeast China and the North ChinaPlain. At its peak in late August, the drought affected approximately 5 million hectares of crops(mostly corn) in the critical reproductive/filling stage. Sharply lower yields have been reportedin some of the drought-impacted areas, particularly in Henan and Liaoning provinces