By the end of September, corn in the Northeast and North China regions had gradually reached maturity and soybean harvesting had begun in the Northeast. Soybeans in the Huang-Huai-Hai region have also reached maturity. Semi-late rice in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is at the milking stage, and reached maturity stage in Southern China. Late rice is in general at the grain-filling stage.

Agro-climatic conditions were generally normal throughout the country. In the Northeast, radiation and temperature conditions were favorable in most areas, which were conducive to the maturity, harvesting and drying of autumn crops such as rice, corn and soybeans. Crop growth condition in Heilongjiang and Jilin was in line with the 5-years average. Although crop condition in Liaoning Province has generally recovered, persistent heavy rains in August caused flooding disasters in the central and western parts of the province, and crop condition is still well below average. Crops in most agricultural areas in North China and the Huang-Huai region benefitted from favorable conditions. However, part of Henan were affected by the flooding in August and crop growth condition was below average. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, warm and sunny weather was conducive to the ripening and harvesting of autumn crops, such as maize and single rice, and also beneficial to the grain filling of late rice. In mid to late August and mid-September, rainfall was low in some areas of Shanxi and Shaanxi, resulting in poor crop growth condition. Crop condition in most areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was average, but the Typhoon "Bebinca" caused rice lodging in some areas of Jiangsu, Shanghai and Anhui. Typhoon Yagi also had a negative impact on crops in part of Hainan.

Overall, crop growth condition is in general average across the country, with limited areas suffering from adverse weather conditions with a decline in crop growth condition, including central Liaoning, North Shaanxi and central to southern Shanxi.

Fig.1 National vegetation index distance plot for cropland areas in mid-September 2024