China is expected to produce a record high of more than 500 million tons of grain this year, according to a senior agricultural official.

However, the country has to maintain an annual output of 500 million tons up to 2010 if it wants to ensure an adequate food supply, said Wei Chao'an, vice minister of agriculture.

The predicted grain output this year indicates China's grain production has entered a new stage of development, Wei said at a recent national meeting on grain production held in Hefei, capital of Anhui Province in east China.

"However, we still are faced with some new problems in stabilizing grain production" Wei said.

Wei said the problems included tight global grain supply and the decrease in grain reserves which had triggered the grain price hikes.

The growing oil price worldwide not only propelled the production of fuel with grain as a raw material, but also increased the cost of grain transport.

In China, he said, the extreme of weather due to global climate change has made agricultural disaster prevention and reduction more difficult.

"National disasters in the first nine months of this year resulted in a loss of 44.5 million tons of grain," Wei said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2007)