BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) - China's better quality wheat output has increased significantly this year and may reduce demand for imports, a Chinese agriculture ministry official said in a briefing on Monday.
* Wheat output of middle grade and above in Henan province, China's top producer of the grain, jumped 40 percent to over 93 percent of the total summer wheat harvest there, Wang Ping, deputy director of the market department under the agriculture ministry told reporters.
* In Anhui province, China's fourth wheat producer, more than 85 percent of wheat is of the same grades, Wang said.
* Good weather during wheat growing and harvesting periods helped improve quality and yields of the grain, he said.
* The total summer wheat harvest came to 127.35 million tonnes, up 0.9 percent from last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday. Increase of good quality wheat this year won't boost exports much, as supplies of good quality wheat in China are still tight, Wang added.
* Better quality Chinese wheat could reduce imports to some extent however, he said.
* China's 2017/18 wheat imports will drop 38 percent from last year to 3 million tonnes, thanks to higher output of good quality wheat, the China National Grain and Oils Information Centre, an official think tank, said in a report earlier this month.