The serious drought afflicting southwest and parts of east China will have no effect on China's total grain output, said an official Friday in Beijing.

Output would remain the same as last year or even rise a little due to an earlier summer harvest, said Wang Jianlin, of the China Meteorological Administration.

The two-month drought has affected 3.2 million hectares of cropland in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, destroying crops in about 727,000 hectares.

Grain output in the area dropped five million tons over last year and the losses amounted to 1.5 million yuan.

However, China's summer grain output was seven million tons more than last year and could make up the drop caused by the drought, said Wang.

He explained that China's grain output had two seasons: summer, which accounted for a third of the annual production, and autumn.

Most of north China was expected to have a good harvest this autumn which would also help to make up for the drought damage, said Wang.

Since July, Sichuan has experienced its worst drought since 1951 and Chongqing the worst in a century. Other regions have also suffered. More than 4.29 million hectares of croplands have been affected in the provinces and regions of Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai, costing 11.51 billion yuan. (one dollar=7.95 yuan)

Source: Xinhua