China's Heilongjiang Vows To Raise Soybean Output

China’s largest soybean producing province has taken its first step to boost production in 2022, following Beijing’s recent warning about dependence on imports for a commodity regarded as essential to food security, Orange Wang reported for the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Photo Insert: Soybean harvesting

The northeastern province of Heilongjiang, which produces about 40 percent of China’s total soybean output and accounts for a similar level of acreage, has set a target of planting more than 666,667 hectares (1.6 million acres) of soybeans this year, according to provincial Communist Party chief Xu Qin.

Annual soybean output is expected to increase by 1.3 million tons, Xu said in an interview with state-owned Xinhua News Agency published on Saturday. The figure, if achieved, would be a nearly 8 percent addition to the total national soybean yield in 2021.

China has been a big buyer of US soybean and is mandated by a deal with the US to increase its purchases of soybean aside from other grains.

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