Yining Corn

Yining Corn

　　Yining corn is a specialty of Yining County in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. The corn cultivation in Yining County is characterized by large planting areas, high yields, good profitability, and favorable conditions for conversion.

　　Yining County is one of the major corn-producing areas in Ili and even in all of Xinjiang. It plants corn on approximately 600,000 mu (about 40,000 hectares) annually, yielding about 500,000 tons. The corn-growing area accounts for nearly half of the total in the Ili Prefecture directly under the autonomous region, and about one-fifth of the key corn-growing areas in northern Xinjiang, including Ili Prefecture, Changji Prefecture, and Bortala Prefecture. The main varieties planted include SC-704, the Xinyu series, and the Yidan series. Most of the corn produced in Yining County is processed locally into feed for livestock. The rest is mainly sold to regions such as Changji and Urumqi. In recent years, with the rapid development of animal husbandry in Xinjiang’s farming areas, the demand for feed corn has shown strong growth, and there is also considerable potential for further expansion in the area dedicated to growing corn for feed.