This aerial photo taken on Oct. 25, 2022 shows newly harvested soybeans being loaded into a railway container at a grain trading company in Suihua of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Heilongjiang, a significant grain-producing province in China, has recorded a bountiful soybean harvest recently. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

China's soybean production has hit a record high this year, with an expansion of the planting area and rising yields, Yang Baolong, president of the China Soybean Industry Association, said on Thursday at an international conference on oilseeds and fats.

Soybeans are an important feed crop as well as grain and oil crop in China. 

In recent years, the country's total demand for soybeans has continued to climb, while the planting area and scale has been limited, so it is imperative to enhance the production capacity for soybeans, Yang said.

At the same time, amid global uncertainties including the Russia-Ukraine crisis, international soybean prices have continued to rise. In order to ensure national food security, China is accelerating the domestic production of soybeans and reducing dependence on imports.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, domestic soybean production in 2022/23 is expected to reach 19.48 million tons, an increase of 18.8 percent year-on-year.

Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, a major soybean planting province in the country, has had a strong soybean harvest this year. According to local media outlet hljnews.cn, the province's soybean sowing area totaled 68.5 million acres, with total production hitting record highs. 

In addition, the country has actively explored the planting of new soybean strains on saline land. On October 16, a new salt-tolerant soybean strain called "Kedou 35" completed harvest testing in Dongying, East China's Shandong Province, yielding over 270 kilograms per mu (0.067 hectares), which is significantly higher than the average yield of similar varieties available in the country.