The five-day second China Agriculture Trade Fair, sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, which opened in Beijing Tuesday, has attracted 550 domestic companies and 25 associations and firms from 13 foreign countries.

"In wake of the recent good harvest and income increase for farmers, the current trade fair is held to showcase the fruitful achievements in agriculture this year and promote the circulation and distribution of farm products," said Du Qinglin, Chinese minister of agriculture.

In the eyes of agricultural experts, this year's fair differs alittle from last year's. With supportive policies from the centralgovernment and an increase in grain price, grain production was good in 2004.

China yielded 101.05 million tons of summer-harvest cereals, up4.8 percent over last year, while output of early rice reaches 32.1 million tons, a rise of 8.8 percent.

More importantly, 60 percent of autumn-harvest grains have beengot in already in the country. Autumn-harvest grain accounts for approximately 70 percent of the country's total and weighed the most in the whole year production.

In addition, farmers' income rose 10.9 percent in the first half of this year, the largest increase in years.

Because of all of the good news, the fair, which opened Tuesday,has drawn attention from all works of life. At the exhibition hallfor crop growing products, Deng Yufu, a section manager of the Heilongjiang Hongyuan Rice Company, was glad to sign several orders on the first day of the fair.

"Last year, we sold 7,000 tons of rice on the fair and, this year, I expect to sell 20,000 tons," said Deng.

China's northernmost Heilongjiang province is one of the largest grain-producing areas in the country. This year, it is expected to yield 31 billion tons of grain, setting a record.

The fair, to run through October 15, will receive 9,000 institutional buyers from domestic and 400 overseas buyers, predicted by the organization committee of the fair.

Source: Xinhua