China's agricultural production got off to a solid start in the first quarter of 2026, with the value-added output from the crop farming sector rising 3.7 percent year on year and livestock output remaining generally stable, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The State Council Information Office on Thursday morning held a press conference in Beijing, where Mao Shengyong, deputy head of the NBS, briefed the media about the country's economic performance in the first quarter.

China saw robust economic development in the first quarter, with the gross domestic product (GDP) growing 5 percent year on year, 0.5 percentage points faster than that of the fourth quarter of 2025, data showed.

Specifically for the agricultural production, Mao said that the sowing area of winter wheat remained stable in the first quarter with seedlings continuing to grow in good conditions, and that spring plowing and preparation work progressed smoothly.

"According to the national planting intentions survey, the intended sown area for grain was generally stable, of which the area for rice is basically the same and the area for corn shows a sustained increase. In the first quarter, the output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 26.62 million tonnes, up by 4.8 percent year on year. Specifically, the output of pork and poultry grew by 4.2 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively, while that of beef and mutton dropped by 1.4 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively. The output of milk grew by 3.4 percent, and that of eggs dropped by 3.1 percent. In the first quarter, the number of slaughtered hogs was 200.26 million, up by 2.8 percent year on year. At the end of the first quarter, the live hog inventory stood at 423.58 million, up by 1.5 percent," said Mao.

China's GDP grew 5 percent year on year last year, and the country has set its 2026 economic growth target at 4.5 to 5 percent.