Below average crop conditions prevailed in parts of southern China during the reporting period, which covers the end of the early rice harvest and the planting and harvest of late rice. Crop condition was below average from July to the beginning of August, recovered to average in August, but dropped to below average again in September and October. In the center and south of Guangdong and in central Guangxi, NDVI was below the average five-year level with a maximum VCI in the range of 0.5-0.8 or less, while in most of southern Yunnan, NDVI kept close to average and VCIx varied from 0.8 to 1.0. Both CALF and the cropping intensity were almost unchanged compared with the reference value (CALF, -1%; cropping intensity, -1%).

The double-cropped and late rice in central and southern Guangdong and in central Guangxi should be paid attention to because of the unfavorable NDVI profile, possibly due to the excessive rainfall (Guangdong RAIN, +18%; Guangxi, +18%) brought by a series of typhoons during the monitoring period.

(a) Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

(b) Spatial NDVI patterns compared to 5YA                                                        (c) NDVI profiles

(d) Maximum VCI                                                                  (e) Biomass