Reuters reported that China’s use of wheat used for animal feed is set to rise by 6 percent to 12.4 million tonnes by 2013. As import grows to fill a gap between domestic production and consumption.

Wheat production in China, the world’s biggest producer of the grain, is s to rise marginally to 118.3 million tonnes in 2013 from 118.1 million this year, said Bi Jieying, assistant professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. At the same time consumption is expected to increase to 119.6 million tonnes next year from 119.1 million tonnes in 2012, she added. „Our consumption will increase and there is a decrease in the sowed area, so there is not much potential for an increase in production,” said Bi, whose research institute is affiliated with the agriculture ministry. „There is already a gap of around 1 million tonnes in production and consumption,” Bi told reporters. „Imports will continue to increase in the coming years.” Although she estimated China’s wheat imports to increase 10 percent to 3 million tonnes in 2013, official data show imports in the first nine months of this year outstripped that figure, rising to a seven-year high of 3.21 million tonnes.