The wheat harvest in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is drawing to a close, with observers expecting a bumper harvest this year at 6.535 million tons, up 2.1 percent year-on-year, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

According to Xinjiang's agriculture department, 14.107 million mu (940.47 hectares) of wheat has been harvested, accounting 93.1 percent of the total. Wheat in southern Xinjiang has already been fully harvested. Combined, the harvest progress in northern and eastern areas of the region has reached 82.67 percent.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Xinjiang produced 6.552 million tons of summer grains in total this year, ranking the sixth among all provinces in China. The three major indexes for wheat - planting area, output per unit and overall output - have all increased.

Due to various climates in the region, the wheat harvest in 17 counties with lower temperatures have yet to be completed, and are scheduled to be finalized by early October.

On Sunday, the region reported four confirmed COVID-19 cases and 189 asymptomatic cases, according to the local health authority. Xinjiang's agriculture departments have implemented relevant measures to fully use planting area to grow vegetables and grains for winter reserves, in order to address the latest round of epidemic outbreaks.

Global Times