China lowers forecast for corn, soybean output

As drought hit Northeastern China’s major corn growing areas earlier this year, China is expected to produce 163 million tons of corn in 2009, a drop of 2.92 million tons or 1.8% against 2008, according to Beijing’s state-own China National Grain and Oils Information Centre (CNGOIC).
CNGOIC has also lowered its forecast for the country’s soybean output to 14.5 million tons in 2009, 1.045 million tons or 6.7% down from last year.