BEIJING, April 13 (Reuters) - China's corn acreage this year is projected to rise 2.7 percent from 2011 to reach 35 million hectares, driven by record domestic prices and Beijing's subsidies, an industry website quoted an agriculture ministry survey as saying.
A bumper corn harvest could boost supplies in the world's second largest consumer of the grain, whose production growth has fallen short of rising demand over the past three years, turning China into a net importer of corn since 2009.
"Supply of corn seeds in parts of northeast provinces has begun to fall short of demand because farmers have shown strong interest in planting corn," the ministry said after a survey of 500 counties in a report carried on an industry website (www.chinagrain.cn).
The survey data was in line with an earlier Reuters' report based on comments by farmers and analysts. [ID:nL3E8F93UC]
Acreage under soybean is likely to fall 11.2 percent this year as many farmers in the northeast provinces of Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia have shifted to growing corn instead of soy, although wheat acreage would stay steady, the report said.
The ministry has not published the survey on its web site.(www.moa.gov.cn).
Lower soy output in China, the world's top soy importer, will drive the country to import, since domestic soy is used mainly to make food, such as tofu. Almost all Chinese crushers depend on soy imports for processing into soymeal, a feed ingredient in demand by the livestock industry.
A survey by the National Bureau of Statistics also expected an increase in corn acreage, but the bureau gave no figures.
