BEIJING: Agricultural Bank of China issued 20bil yuan in agricultural special bonds into the interbank market last Friday, a record amount for such bonds, with an issue rate of 2.65%, the state-owned Securities Times reported.

The funds will be used to finance food security and integrated development of rural primary, secondary and tertiary industries, the report said.

Concerns over food security have mounted in China where the largest wheat-growing province of Henan, its grain already damaged by wetter-than-normal weather, is expected to receive more rain in the coming days, according to state forecasters, complicating harvest operations.

China, the world’s top producer of grain, had been expecting a bumper crop this year.

China is used to floods and droughts but abnormal weather patterns of excessive rain and heatwaves, are also affecting the country’s rice-growing southern provinces, risking devastation to key crops and a squeeze on supplies.

 - Reuters