China Finishes Early Rice Harvest

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has revealed that China has nearly finished harvesting its early rice crop, while planting of the late rice crop is more than half completed.

China had harvested more than 5.6 million hectares of the early rice crop as of Thursday, or more than 95% of the total expected harvest, the ministry said in a statement published on its Website.

China is expected to produce 185.7 million MT of rice in 2008, up 0.11% from a year earlier, according to data from the China National Grain and Oils Information Center.