China's grain production increases

China produced 695.41 million metric tons of grain this year, a year-on-year increase of 8.88 million tons, or 1.3 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

The total food growing area in China's 31 provincial-level administrative regions added up to 119 million hectares, which is 0.5 percent larger than last year, the bureau said in a statement.

The productivity averaged at 5.845 tons for each hectare across the nation, which is 0.8 percent higher than that of last year, it said.

The increased output came even though some farmlands had been hit by a string of heatwaves and torrential rain over the summer, which disrupted food production and wiped out entire harvests in some areas.

Before the actual output figures were released, agricultural officials told a news conference in late October that food output could rise further due to larger growing areas, the adoption of high-yield crop varieties and milder-than-usual droughts.