Shanghai. April 23. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's two largest wheat producing regions, Henan and Shandong, are hopeful of achieving bumper wheat harvests yet again this year, according to local agricultural authorities citing wheat cultivation growth statistics and overall favorable weather conditions. Wheat cultivation in Henan this year has expanded by over 700,000 mu (46,667 hectares) to 50.50 million mu (3.37 million hectares), while that in Shandong has increased by 120,000 mu (8,000 hectares) to 76 million mu (5.07 million hectares), according to authorities.

       At the start of spring, Shandong and Henan were at grips with drought, but rainfalls in early April and last week have provided much needed water for wheat seedlings. "Showers on April 8 greatly eased the drought in wheat cultivation areas, as did another showers last week," Liu Xinning, from the Jining State Grain Depot, told Interfax. "Wheat in Shandong is generally growing well so far, and to date, we haven't detected any severe wheat diseases," Liu said. "Wheat here [in Henan] is generally healthy now, and we are expecting another bumper wheat harvest," an employee with Henan Wen County Wheat Flour Plant said. "With grain prices rising globally and increasing government subsidies, grain output is unlikely to shrink in China in the absence of serious natural disasters," commodity analyst Xu Lejin, from Nanhua Futures, said. "But we should not draw conclusions so early as excessive rainfall and unexpected pests before the June wheat harvest could still erode final output." Below is a table specifying wheat output in Henan and Shandong from 2002 to 2007. Wheat output in Henan and Shandong, 2002 to 2007 (mln tons) Region 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Henan 22.484 22.93 24.81 25.78 28.23 29.43 (estimate) Shandong 15.47 15.65 15.84 18 18.9 18.8 (estimate) China's total 90.29 86.49 91.95 97.45 104.46 106