Added value of China's primary industry to exceed$1.3 trillionin 2023: green paper

(ECNS) -- The added value of China’s primary industry will exceed 9 trillion yuan($1.3 trillion)in 2023, an increase of 4 percent, while the total grain output will exceed 690 million tons, according to the latest green paper.

The paper, titled Green Book of Rural Area: Analysis and Forecast on China’s Rural Economy, was jointly released by the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Department of Rural Social and Economic Survey ofNational Bureau of Statistics, and Social Sciences Academic Press.

The green paper predicts that in 2023, the agricultural product import and export volume would exceed 350 billion US dollars, with agricultural product exports exceeding 100 billion US dollars and imports, 250 billion US dollars.

The import volume of major agricultural products will continue to show a growth trend. The urban-rural income ratio is expected to further decrease to 2.40, a drop of 0.05 compared to 2022, the green paper said.

It pointed out that the agricultural and rural economy played a significant role in supporting the national economy in 2022. The added value of the primary industry for the year was 8,834.5 billion yuan, an actual increase of 4.1 percent over the previous year. Its contribution rate to the actual growth of GDP was 9.9 percent, an increase of 3.2 percentage points from 2021. The actual growth of the primary industry drove a 0.7 percent increase in the actual growth of GDP, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year.

Specifically, thegreen paper points out that in 2022, the production mix of grains, oilseeds, and cotton was further optimized. The total grain output for the year was 686.52 million tons, an increase of 0.5 percent or 3.67 million tons compared to the previous year. The increase in grain production was entirely due to the stable increase in the sown area of grains. In 2022, the production of meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, and aquatic products generally showed stable growth. The total output of pork, beef, mutton, poultry, and other meats for the year was 92.27 million tons, an increase of 3.8 percent or 3.4 million tons compared to the previous year.

Looking ahead, the green paper believes that despite the uncertainty of the international environment and other challenges, there are significantly more favorable factors to promote high-quality development of the agricultural and rural economy in 2023.

The overall development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery will continue to maintain a good trend, and rural consumption and rural investment will continue to grow. The prices of major agricultural products are expected to remain within a reasonable range, supporting the stable and sustainable development of the economy and society, the green paper said.