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China Wheat Processing Industry – $43 Billion

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The winter Wheat period in southern China is 120 days, and the winter Wheat area in the north is more than 270 days. Spring Wheat is sown in spring and harvested in autumn of that year. The growth period of spring Wheat is short, usually 80-120 days. In terms of Wheat quality, spring Wheat generally has higher protein content than winter Wheat, but since spring Wheat has lower bulk density and flour yield than winter Wheat, winter Wheat can be planted in a broader range.

The data shows that the global winter Wheat planting area accounts for about 75% of the total Wheat planting area and is widely distributed. The spring Wheat planting area accounts for about 25% of the whole Wheat planting area and is mostly distributed in regions with higher latitudes.

China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of Wheat. The planted area of Wheat over the years has accounted for 22% to 30% of the country’s total arable land and 22% to 27% of the total area of grain crops. Wheat is the second largest food crop after rice.

In 2021, China’s Wheat planting area was 23.57 million hectares, accounting for about 10.6% of the world; the output was 137 million tons, accounting for about 17.6% of the world, ranking first in the world; and the yield per unit area was 5,810.12 kg/ha, which is 2,320.7 kg/ha higher than the global average of 3,490 kg/ha.

The overall consumption was about 148.8 million tons (11.86 million tons higher than the output), and the global proportion is about 18.9%. Since 2012, thanks to the improvement of domestic Wheat breeding technology and planting management level, although the overall planted area has shown a fluctuating downward trend, the national Wheat output per unit area and total output have shown a fluctuating growth trend as a whole.

Regarding subdivided production areas, China’s Wheat planting and production are mainly concentrated in Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Hebei, Jiangsu, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Hubei, Gansu, Sichuan, and other provinces. Among them, the main Wheat-producing areas in Henan Province are Zhumadian City, Zhoukou City, Nanyang City, Shangqiu City, and Xinxiang City. The main Wheat-producing areas in Shandong Province are Heze City, Dezhou City, Liaocheng City, Jining City, and Weifang City. In Anhui Province, the main Wheat-producing areas are Fuyang City, Suzhou City, Haozhou City, Chuzhou City, and Bengbu City.

From the perspective of the market situation, in recent years, the national Wheat price has fluctuated and risen as a whole; the consumption structure is dominated by milling consumption, accounting for about 59%, and the proportions of feeding consumption, industrial consumption, and seed consumption are 30%, 7%, and 4% respectively. The market size of the processing industry is about 300 billion yuan (USD43 billion), and the relevant enterprises are mainly concentrated in Hebei, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Fujian, and other places, and primarily produce primary processed products such as Wheat flour.

China Wheat Processing Industry - $43 Billion

China’s Wheat Import

According to China Customs data, the names of Wheat-related imported commodities are “durum Wheat for seed,” “other durum Wheat,” “other Wheat and mixed Wheat for seed,” “other Wheat and mixed Wheat, except for seed,” ” Seed Triticale,” and “Other Triticale.” In 2021, the cumulative import volume reached 9.7 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 19%; the cumulative import value was 3 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 34.35%. China’s demand for Wheat is strong, and it still needs to import Wheat to relieve part of the domestic supply pressure.

According to the AgFlow data, Australia led the Chinese import market with 5.7 million tons of Wheat in 2021 – 2022, followed by France (1.3 million tons), Canada (0.9 million tons), the United States (0.8 million tons), and India (0.1 million tons).

Other sources: NKB

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