China's grain output is projected to hit a record high of 700 billion kilograms this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Friday.
At a press conference in Beijing, Zhang Xingwang, vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs, made the remarks and reported that as of Thursday more than 80 percent of the autumn grain had been reaped across China.
"China will see another year with a bumper grain harvest. The summer grain and early rice had been harvested. The total output of summer grain this year stood at 149.78 billion kilograms, up 3.625 billion kilograms from the previous years, marking the highest increase in the past nine years. And the early rice output amounted to 28.175 billion kilograms, exceeding the threshold of 28 billion kilograms for four consecutive years. The planting area of autumn grain has seen steady growth, with significant improvements in increasing per unit crop yield on a large scale. As of Thursday, the progress of China's autumn grain harvest this year has reached 82.5 percent, marking another season of bountiful harvest. The country's annual grain production is expected to surpass 700 billion kilograms for the first time this year after having remain steady at over 650 billion kilograms for nine consecutive years. Notable progress was made in increasing the cultivation of soybeans and other oil crops. The soybean planting area maintained at over 10 million hectares and its output is expected to remain above 20 million tons. The planting area, per unit area yield and total output of rapeseed have all achieved increases," explained Zhang.
China's 2024 grain output expected to break record 700 billion kg
China's 2024 grain output expected to break record 700 billion kg
Real-time payments and digital currencies define the future of transaction banking, said an executive from the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group.
Hari Janakirama, head of the Industry and Innovation Transaction Banking of ANZ, made the remarks in an interview with China Global Television Network on Thursday while attending the Swift International Banker's Operation Seminar 2024 (Sibos 2024) in Beijing.
The four-day Sibos 2024 financial services forum, which concluded in Beijing on Thursday, gathered nearly 10,000 participants from over 150 countries and regions to discuss banking and payments, technology and innovation, and environmental, social and governance strategies.
"There are a few themes which are coming up when it comes to latest in transaction banking. Most of them border on the concept of real-time economy, real-time everything, so real time, freshly, real-time payments, real-time liquidity. And now, what real time means will depend on what customer segment you are talking about. So if you're talking about an individual customer, like you and me sending money overseas, for example, real time is I just wanted to happen. Many of the Asian countries in the Asia Pacific, as an example, have their domestic real-time payments network. And efforts are underway to connect these payment networks so that if you are able to make a domestic payment in real time in your country, you should be able to do the same thing when you are sending a payment to the country, neighboring country. So that is happening for consumers. And eventually that will happen for business," said Janakirama.
"The other theme which is coming on to that is digital currencies and digital assets where convergence of multiple platforms where you have a platform which enables the transfer of ownership of an asset or a property, whatever it may be. And the payment which happens separately, they are converging together to make it happen at the same time. So it is more cost efficient, more faster and more transparent for the consumer. These are specific themes which are coming up in transaction banking. And all of this is underpinned by better data access to better data, more enriched data," he said.
In the interview, Janakirama also applauded the innovative development of China's digital economy which has exerted a positive impact on the banking sector.
China's digital yuan transactions amounted to 7 trillion yuan (about 986.07 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of June this year, according to the central bank.
Real-time payments, digital currencies define future of transaction banking: executive of ANZ Banking Group
