China’s national-level statistics for costs of production can be very delayed, so it can be helpful to look at very local data to get a sense of farmers’ returns.
Yongqiao District is part of Suzhou in Jiangsu province, and publishes some assessments tracked by the district’s Development and Reform Commission.
For corn, they estimate losses for farmers in their district at 3,674 yuan per hectare in 2025.
Yields in 2025 fell by 1.4% to 7.11 tons per hectare. The commission noted that the yields d...