Thanks to a series measures to promote grain production, China's total grain output is expected to surpass 475 billion kilograms this year, a government official said Thursday.

Currently, 13 major grain-producing provinces have provided more than 70 percent of China's total grain output and stocks, said Qie Jianwei, deputy director of the State Grain Reserve Administration, at the 2005 Heilongjiang Province Autumn Grain Trade Fair, the biggest of its kind in the country.

Qie attributed the bumper grain harvest to the government's policies on promoting grain production, such as strengthening macro-control on corn and wheat production, and setting the lowest purchasing price for rice.

China's grain output reached 469.45 billion kilograms last year, a year on year rise of 38.75 billion kilograms. This has been ascribed to government policies, including agricultural tax cutting and subsidies to farmers granted by the government, among others, to prompt farmers enthusiasm to grow crops.

The current grain trade fair is co-sponsored by Heilongjiang Provincial Grain Bureau and its counterparts of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai municipalities and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Yunnan provinces.

Heilongjiang is one of the major commodity grain production bases of China, producing more than 17 billion kilograms of grain annually. The province has sold more than 18 million tons of grain to major grain consumption provinces in south China since 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2005)