The newspaper said grain acreage was down 0.7 percent to 113 million hectares (180 million acres) this year from last year. The total crop planting area this year was up 0.2 percent or 370,000 hectares, it said.

Planting of low-quality early rice was reduced by 180,000 hectares while the area under high-quality rice increased by 290,000 hectares, it said. Areas under corn rose 590,000 hectares, encouraged by high yields and good profits, it said without giving exact figures.

The government has said China expects to produce around 495 million tonnes of grain this year, much the same as last year. Planting of cotton fell a year-on-year 15 per cent to 3.78 million hectares this year, the newspaper said. Areas under sugar dropped a year-on-year 18.1 percent to 1.625 million hectares, it said.

Farmers planted 13.93 million hectares of oil-bearingcrops in 1999, up 7.8 percent compared with 1998, it said. The area under rapeseed was a new record and rose 360,000 hectares, it said without giving further details.