SOURCE / ECONOMY
Agricultural production and transportation in C. China Henan to be ‘temporarily affected’ by record rainfall
Published: Jul 21, 2021 06:08 PM
A courier wades through a waterlogged road in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, July 20, 2021. More than 144,660 residents have been affected by torrential rains in central China's Henan Province since July 16, and 10,152 have been relocated to safe places, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Tuesday.(Photo: Xinhua)

A courier wades through a waterlogged road in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, July 20, 2021. More than 144,660 residents have been affected by torrential rains in central China's Henan Province since July 16, and 10,152 have been relocated to safe places, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said Tuesday.(Photo: Xinhua)

The agricultural production and transportation in Central China's Henan Province will only be temporarily affected by the extreme torrential rain and subsequent flooding, analysts said on Wednesday. 

"The torrential rain has not yet been able to affect the grain production in Henan, nor will it reduce the production," Li Guoxiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Li noted that the agricultural production and transportation have been temporarily affected which will most likely to resume back to normal as flood disasters usually do not last for a very long time, adding that the grain production in low-lying areas may fall slightly.  

The heavy rainfall has a limited impact on corn growth in Henan as the corn planted in Central China regions is usually spring corn which hasn't reached the pollination period, the Futures Daily reported on Wednesday, citing analysts. 

The hog farming industry hasn't been impacted significantly by the rain, as most of the hog farming enterprises are not located in Zhengzhou and its suburbs where have been affected the most by the torrential rain, therefore the impact on hog farming is limited, per media reports, adding that the rain will have some impact on the local cotton industry.

The ultimate impact of the torrential rain, which has affected almost the entire Henan Province, is likely to be little more than a speed bump due to China's strong government response, Mei Xinyu, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of China's Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Mei warned that even though the rain did not impact China's summer grain harvest, the autumn grain production might be affected by a certain degree which should be closely monitored.

Henan's total summer grain harvest reached 38.03 million tons, ranking it first in China, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. 

Global Times