Chinese farmers are expected to sow 35.84 million hectares of corn this year, down 2.5 percent from last year, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday, as Beijing looks to boost alternative crops to reduce its corn glut. In its first estimate for the 2017 crop, the ministry said China is expected to produce 213.19 million tonnes of corn, down 2.9 percent from a year ago.

The planting forecast in the monthly report on Chinese Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (CASDE) shows a smaller percentage decline than predicted by China's National Bureau of Statistics last month. The bureau forecast China's planned corn acreage would fall by 4 percent this year, based on a survey of 110,000 Chinese farmers.

Beijing is sitting on close to 250 million tonnes of corn, equal to more than a year of consumption, after a near decade-long stockpiling system. The glut prompted Beijing to include cutting corn areas and raising soybean planting in a five-year government plan issued last year. The CASDE report said soybean imports by China, the world's top buyer of the oilseed, were expected to jump 4.2 percent from last year to 93.16 million tonnes, as hog production recovers and demand for soymeal increases.

China imported 8.02 million tonnes of soybeans in April, a fourth consecutive month when imports set a record for that month, data from the General Administration of Customs of China showed on Monday. China's 2017/2018 soybean acreage was seen at 7.9 million hectares, up 10 percent, while soybean output was expected to rise 12 percent to 14.1 million tonnes, the CASDE report said.

Copyright Reuters, 2017