The current monitoring period (July to October) covered the peak of the summer crops in July until the harvest in September and October in northeast China. The crops, including maize, rice and soybeans, reached the maturity stage in August to September in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, and the harvest was mostly completed by the end of October. CropWatch Agroclimatic Indicators (CWAIs) show that the precipitation greatly deviated from the average level. The total precipitation increased by 17%( ΔRAIN+17%). It was above average from July to late August. The photosynthetically active radiation was above average (ΔRADPAR +4%), and the temperatures were above average (ΔTEMP +0.9°C).  Altogether, the potential biomass was 7% above the fifteen-year average level.  

The crop conditions during the monitoring period were in general, slightly above average, but spatial variations existed. The maximum VCI shows that all provinces of the Northeast of China were above 0.8, except for a small part of western northeast China near the rivers. This was mainly due to the flooding caused by significant above average rainfall. According to statistics, the total affected area of the Songhua River Basin was 791,000 hectares. The affected area of maize was 323,000 hectares, rice was 138,000 hectares and soybeans was 51,000 hectares, the affected area of other crops was 278,000 hectares. In addition, VCIx map also reflects that the growth of crops in the saline alkaline areas of Daqing, Songyuan, Yingkou and Panjin was slightly poor. 

In general, crops in northeast China grew well in 2023, with good prospects for crop yield.

Figure 4.8 Crop condition China Northeast region, July-October 2023

（a） Crop condition development graph based on NDVI

（b） Spatial distribution of NDVI profiles

（c） Time series temperature pofile

（d） Time series rainfall pofile

（e） Potential biomass departure from 5YA

（f） Maximum VCI

(g) Flooding area in Northeast China in August 2023

(h) Flooding area on both sides of the Songhua River in August 2023

(i) Photos of the scene of farmland flooding in Northeast China in August 2023