In 2021, the agro-meteorological conditions at the national scale were generally favorable for crops. In the center and north, rainy weather dominated, leading to regional flooding in the HuangHuaiHai region and the Yangtze River basin. High temperatures and low precipitation dominated in southern China, leading to a meteorological drought in Guangdong and Fujian.

Based on multi-source remote sensing data including Sentinel 1/2, Landsat 8, in combination with the latest agro-meteorological information and ground truth samples, as well as a 10 m resolution cropland mask, a remote sensing-based crop yield model and big data method for crop planted area estimation method was used to monitor and review the national maize, rice and soybean production as well as the total production of summer crops and total annual outputs in 2021.

Total grain production for the year was 636.86 million tons, an increase of 5.42 million tons or 0.9% over the same period last year. Of this, the total output of summer crops (including maize, medium rice, late rice, spring wheat, soybeans, tuber crops and some other minor crops) was 470.82 million tons, an increase of 4.34 million tons, or up by 0.9% over 2020.

Northeast China recovered from the 2020 disaster year, and the total annual crop production increased significantly. Annual total crop production in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Jilin increased by 2.57 million tons, 1.91 million tons and 1.17 million tons, respectively. Shandong, Liaoning and Hebei provinces benefited from favorable weather conditions and annual total crop production increased by 1.39 million tons, 0.88 million tons and 0.87 million tons, respectively. Henan Province encountered several disasters in 2021, with winter crops affected by hailstorms at the maturity stage. Summer crops were affected by several rounds of heavy precipitation, resulting in flooding and loss of parts of the summer crops. The total summer crops production in Henan decreased by 0.99 million tons. The other provinces and regions presented limited annual crop production year-on-year changes.

Total maize production is estimated at 229.70 million tons in 2021, an increase of 3.63 million tons or up by 1.6% from 2020 (Table 4.2). The increase is mainly due to market factors such as maize prices, which have remained at a high level since 2020, prompting a 1.8% increase in maize planted area. In the northeast, China's largest maize producing region, maize received abundant precipitation during the growing season, and agro-meteorological indicators were significantly better than in the disaster year of 2020 when several typhoons passed through. The favorable weather conditions provided suitable water and heat conditions for maize production in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. Meanwhile, the maize planted area in those provinces also increased, maize production in the four provinces and regions increased by 6.1%, 3.2%, 4.3% and 6.7% respectively, which in total produced 5.81 million tons more maize than the previous year. Maize production increased in Shandong (+2.5%), Hebei (+1.1%), Xinjiang (+3.9%) and Yunnan (+1.1%) compared with 2020. Maize production decreased in Gansu (-2.9%), Ningxia (-2.1%) and Shaanxi (-4.1%) as a result of low precipitation during the monitoring period, which resulted in a water deficit during the grain-filling period. In Henan Province, heavy precipitation in July caused flooding, leading to crop failures in Hebi and some other places. Rainfall remained above average until October. This led to a 2.6% drop in maize yield in Henan, and the province's maize production decreased by 3.4%. Shanxi Province suffered from heavy rainfall and flooding at the end of the harvesting period of the summer crops. Its maize production dropped by 4.1%. Anhui was affected by continuous rain and other adverse weather and maize production was reduced by 1.5%.

Table 4.2 Production of corn, rice, wheat and soybeans in China in 2021 (thousand tons) and percentage difference from 2020 (%)

*Note: National total production does not include crop production in Taiwan

Total national rice production was 202.96 million tons, an increase of 0.9% or 1.78 million tons. Early rice production was 33.55 million tons, an increase of 0.3%; Semi-late or single rice production was 133.85 million tons, an increase of 1.1%, and late rice production was at 35.56 million tons, an increase of 0.8% (Table 4.3). Agro-meteorological conditions in the main production areas have been generally normal since the sowing of semi-late or single rice. We estimate that rice yield increased by 0.9% or 1.4 million tons. Most of the main rice-producing provinces in the southwest and the Yangtze River basin and Huai River basin have experienced high precipitation and lower solar radiation since August, narrowing the increase in rice yields. Rice production increased moderately in Hubei (+2.9%), Sichuan (+2.6%), Jiangsu (+2.0%), Zhejiang (+1.9%), Hunan (+1.9%) and Anhui (+1.8%) provinces ; Agricultural weather conditions in the single rice producing areas in the northeast were better than last year, with rice production increases in Heilongjiang (+1.4%), Jilin (+ 2.9%) and Liaoning (+1.4%) . During the late growing stages of late rice, Guangdong's and Fujian's precipitation was more than 10% lower than the 15YA, but irrigation and other management measures compensated for the impact of reduced rain. As a result, late rice production in Guangdong and Fujian were reduced by 1.1% and 0.3% only; Hubei Province, affected by continuous heavy precipitation, is estimated to generate a 3.5% year-on-year increase of maize.

Total soybean production in 2021 was 14.35 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.23 million tons, or by 1.6% from 2020. The main cause for the year-on-year reduction is the decline in planted area, which is concentrated in the northeast. In the two major producing provinces, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia, soybean planted area was reduced by 6.7% and 1.1% respectively. In Heilongjiang, the production decreased by 6.5%, mainly due to a reduction in the area sown. In contrast, Inner Mongolia's soybean production increased by 2.2 per cent from 2020 thanks to well-matched rain and heat conditions during the podding and grain-filling period of soybean, The increase in yields compensated for the impact of reduced planted area. Other soybean producing provinces had limited changes in production.

Table 4.3 Production of semi-late or single and late rice by province in China in 2021 (thousand tons) and variation (%)

*Note: National total production does not include crop production in Taiwan Province.