China’s wheat output could drop as much as 20 per cent this crop year after bad weather hit fields in major growing areas, likely boosting imports by the world’s top producer and consumer of the grain. Increased Chinese demand for wheat cargoes could pile more upward pressure on international prices for the commodity, which have already soared nearly 15 per cent since early April on worries over tight global supplies. The China National Grain and Oils Information Centre, a government think tank, earlier this month estimated that China’s wheat output would drop 3 million tonnes in the 2018/19 season from the year before to 126.73 million tonnes.