During the monitoring period, winter wheat was harvested and summer crops (maize and soybean) were planted in the north of China. Figures 4.1 to 4.5 illustrate China's spatial distribution of rainfall (figure 4.1) and temperature profiles (figure 4.2), and maps of cropped and uncropped arable land (figure 4.3), maximum VCI (figure 4.4.), and minimum VHI (figure 4.5). Table 4.1 presents an overview of CropWatch indicators for the monitoring period.

Rainfall (RAIN) was 36% above average, while temperature (TEMP) and radiation (RADPAR) decreased by 0.5°C and 3%, respectively, when compared with average. The prevailing agroclimatic conditions lead to above average biomass. In more than 70% of the country, mostly in central and northern China, rainfall in the past seven months was average up to June, while it fluctuated widely in the southeast of China. Temperature also fluctuated across the whole of China during the monitoring period.

In Huanghuaihai, Loess region, Inner Mongolia, Lower Yangtze, Southern China, and Southwest China, above average RAIN resulted in high BIOMSS. In Northeast China, below average rainfall lead to a potential BIOMSS decrease of 4% compared to the recent five-year average. High VCIx values mostly occur in Southwest China, central Shanxi province, and in Northeast China. Low VCIx values mainly occur in Northwest China and the Huanghuaihai region, in particular the south of Jiangsu and north of Ningxia and Gansu provinces. Crop condition in Southwest China is above average (VCIx is 0.89), as rainfall is higher than average and temperature is just slightly below.

During the monitoring period, the cropped arable land fraction (CALF) was comparable to the recent five-year average in all seven regions, with uncropped land mainly distributed in the northwest of the country, such as central Gansu and Ningxia provinces. In Huanghuaihai, Lower Yangtze, Northeast China, and Southwest China, CALF was average, while in Inner Mongolia, Loess Region, and Southern China, the drop in CALF was 1%, 5% and 1%, respectively, which may be the result of the low temperature. The results for minimum VHI indicate that most areas did not experience water stress. Some major production zones, however, suffered from drought, including the southwest of Yunnan, central Ningxia, and the east of Inner Mongolia province (figure 4.5).

Table 4.1. CropWatch agroclimaticand agronomic indicators for China, April-July 2016, departure from 5YA and 15YA

Note: Departuresare expressed in relative terms (percentage) for all variables, except fortemperature, for which absolute departure in degrees Celsius is given. Zeromeans no change from the average value; relative departures are calculated as(C-R)/R*100, with C=current value and R=reference value, which is the five(5YA) or fifteen-year average (15YA) for the same period (April-July).