The forecast of corn planting area this year is optimistic.

Up to now, the planting of spring corn in Northeast China is coming to an end, and with the maturity of winter wheat in the mainland, the wheat field interplanting of summer corn in the mainland has also begun. In the current situation of huge domestic corn stocks and relatively low prices, is the area of corn planted by farmers in Northeast China increasing or decreasing? What is the intention of mainland farmers to grow corn?

"the corn of better quality can be used as feed raw material, the purchase price of small vendors is 1.08 yuan / jin, and the price of corn for feed after sifting in large grain depots is 1.13 yuan / jin." Qi Kai, a corn trader in Huaxian County, Henan Province, told Futures Daily that compared with the same period in previous years, corn prices in Henan and neighboring provinces were on the low side. Due to the large amount of surplus grain in the hands of farmers, the huge inventory of corn in the State Reserve, and the selling time of corn produced in Northeast China earlier than last year, it is estimated that the domestic corn market price will not improve before the new season corn goes on the market.

The reporter consulted relevant materials and learned that as of April 30, the temporary collection and storage of corn produced in Northeast China in 2014 had been completed, and the three northeastern provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous region had accumulated nearly 84 million tons of corn in 2014. Grain enterprises of various types in 11 major corn producing areas, including Heilongjiang and Jilin, had purchased about 130 million tons of corn in 2014, an increase of nearly 15 million tons over the same period last year. According to the national total corn output of about 220 million tons, and considering that the government collected and stored 70 million tons of corn in the northeast region in 2014, the current state reserve corn inventory is very large, and most of the corn market supply is in the hands of the government. Under the circumstances that the current selling time of corn in the State Reserve is fixed, the quantity is sufficient, the floor price is determined, and the intention of selling at a favorable price is obvious, the market expects that the rise and fall of domestic corn prices will not be too large. On the other hand, price stability will prevent a large-scale adjustment in farmers' planting habits and intentions, and the market expects that farmers are unlikely to reduce their corn planting area this year.

Li Yanfei, a grain and oil trader in Dalian, told reporters that recently, personnel from his organization investigated the planting of corn in the new season in Liaoning, Jilin and other places. Judging from their field investigation, except for the postponement of corn sowing in some areas due to drought, farmers in most parts of Northeast China have completed the sowing of spring corn in accordance with solar terms, and the sown area is still showing a steady growth trend, and few farmers take the initiative to adjust the planting structure.

"in the words of farmers in Northeast China, growing corn is simple and fast, and the income is relatively good. In addition, now that most of the young people in the village go out to work to earn money, it is impossible to grow other crops if they are old. Therefore, corn with a high degree of machinery use and less labor input is more popular among farmers." Li Yanfei said that apart from the relatively high income from planting peanuts in Northeast Fuyu and other places that have reduced part of the area of corn, farmers in most areas have chosen to grow corn. Farmers in Jilin, Panshi, and Meihekou have also changed their planting of corn because of the labor-intensive planting of rice, and there has been a conversion of paddy fields to dry land for five or six years in a row.

Qi Kai told reporters that at present, Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Hubei and other places have entered the period of interplanting peanuts, corn, and cotton in wheat fields. In recent years, corn sowing and harvesting have achieved mechanical operation to a large extent, with less labor, short time, and low cost. Therefore, unless the income of planting peanuts and cotton is much higher than that of planting corn, farmers almost all choose to plant corn during and after wheat harvest.

While conducting market surveys in Yanjin, Henan, Heze, Shandong, Hengshui, Hebei, and Hubei Public Security, the reporter found that mainland farmers now mainly grow two kinds of crops all the year round, that is, wheat and corn, with a very single variety. In the past, in addition to planting corn, farmers in various places also planted a large number of crops such as mung beans, red beans, sesame, sorghum, and so on.

A number of interviewees believe that due to the increase in corn planting area in the new season, in the absence of extreme weather, this year's corn planting area is relatively optimistic, but not optimistic about the price.