China's corn output is expected to increase 1.9 percent this year to hit a record 142 million tons, the China National Grain and Oils Information Center has predicted.

The center also forecast recently that the country's acreage of cornfields would rise by 2.1 percent this year from 2005.

The center attributed the increased acreage this year to the higher returns of farmers in Northeast China, the nation's major corn production base, from growing corn.

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