Agricultural Bank of China increases loan support for grain industry

A farmer drives a planter to sow corn in Chencun Township in Fengxiang District, Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province on June 8, 2022. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country's four big state-owned lenders, stepped up its loan support for the grain industry in the first half of this year.

By the end of June, the bank's outstanding loans to key sectors related to grain production stood at 235.1 billion yuan (about 35.1 billion U.S. dollars), up 22 percent from the beginning of 2022, according to data from the bank.

It said that it had also provided various types of credit support for the country's seed industry and high-standard farmland development.

Under a plan to bolster the seed industry, for example, the bank's outstanding loans to related sectors expanded 46 percent from the beginning of this year to 22.6 billion yuan at the end of June.