In early-to-mid September 2021, the fall crops in the country have mostly entered the maturity period, and the crop growth was generally on par with the average of the last five years.

Crop growth in the north of the Yangtze River was generally good, mainly due to the abundant precipitation which provided a suitable soil moisture guarantee for the summer crop. However, impacted by the continuous drought, most of the rain-fed crop growth in northern Loess Plateau was poor. Affected by continuous cloudy and rainy weather in eastern Heilongjiang, the crop was slightly lower than the average level of previous years. Moreover, Henan has been affected by continuous heavy rainfall, resulting in the lack of autumn grain production in the north. And the rainy weather has continued since September, which adverse the crop growth condition in the southeast as well. Similarly, continuous precipitation in southern Sichuan resulted in limited radiation, crop growth was lower than the average level of previous years, and high field soil humidity was not conducive to autumn harvest and autumn planting. Overall, China's autumn grain production is expected to be generally normal.

Figure 1: NDVI departure from 5 years average (2021.8.29 - 2021.9.13)