Producer prices of grain rose 7.3 percent year on year in China in the first quarter, giving farmers' incomes a welcome boost, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

Cereals were up 8 percent, wheat 5.4 percent, rice 3.6 percent, corn 15 percent and beans 4.2 percent.

Rising grain prices helped raise Chinese farmers' incomes, which grew 12.1 percent in the first quarter, the highest rise in a decade, said the report.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2007)