Estimates are that China will have bumper grain crops for the 11th consecutive year. The large harvest, however, poses a problem for the authorities as, according to the official media,  the government will have stocks of 150 million tons of grains, including China's three most important crops namely: rice, wheat and corn. The stocks will be double the 75 million tons of last year. 

Analysts say that while the abundance of grains is being lauded, China is paying far more than necessary to feed its people and will be forced to sell its surpluses into a global market already suffering from oversupply thus potentially driving prices down further. The precise size and costs of China's subsidy program are not known, but official data shows that China buys up one-third of corn production. An estimate by the state-run media said the government spent $36 billion in the past two years to buy up corn when the market price had fallen below a minimum floor. Estimates are that China holds about 40% of the world's corn stocks. China plans to build storage facilities to hold 50 million metric tons more of grain by 2015 to cope with the excess.