Southwest China with the earliest maturity in winter wheat has begun summer harvest. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the wheat harvest in the area has exceeded 30 percent.

This year, the planting area of winter wheat in China has remained stable, at over 2.2 million hectares. The southwest wheat region includes Chongqing Municipality, and Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces, and has a wheat planting area of about 100,000 hectares, accounting for 4.5 percent of the national total. Harvesting in the southwest wheat region begins in early May every year due to the advantages of sufficient temperature and good lighting. The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River begins at the end of May and the rest of the areas start after June 1 every year.

Summer grain is the first season of annual grain production, yielding more than one-fifth of the annual grain yield. With the arrival of the summer grain harvest, grain purchases are also on the agenda. The central government will organize grain procurement and advise local and relevant enterprises on market-driven and policy-driven procurement in order to protect farmers' interests and maintain a sound market mechanism in grain procurement, said Cong Liang, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission and National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration in a press conference. 

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