China's Ministry of Commerce issued a notice on Sunday
mobilizing all forces to ensure agricultural supplies that are
severely threatened by the heavy snow that has hit the southern
part of the country over the past few weeks.
About 105 million mu (seven million hectares) of farmland,
mainly in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, was
hit by the snow. Among these, about 11.3 million mu lost all its
output to the weather.
Fresh vegetables also started to disappear from supermarkets in
some cities, and what remained was sold at high prices despite
government efforts to stabilize prices.
To ease the tight supply further stretched by the coming Spring
Festival on Thursday when Chinese need more vegetables, meat and
eggs to prepare traditional feasts, the State Administration for
Industry and Commerce issued an emergency notice to boost the
supply of fresh and live agricultural products by halving the
operation fees of vendors.
Nearly 23 tons of disaster-relief materials, such as
flashlights, coats and quilts, were transported to nine snow-hit
cities by air via China Airlines.
Local authorities also started to open up government reserves.
The eastern Anhui Province delivered more than 2,000 tons of
carrots, capsicums and tomatoes, among other, into the market,
while the southwestern Guizhou Province released 510 tons of pork
reserves.
Authorities were monitoring the price changes on a daily basis,
and have arranged staff rotation so that there are people standing
by around the clock to deal with emergencies.
To stabilize food prices, China's economic planner, the National
Development and Reform Commission, reassured on Thursday that
temporary price control measures had been implemented in all 31
provinces and municipalities on the mainland by Jan. 26.
The policy limited price increases of daily food and
necessities, such as meat, eggs and liquefied petroleum gas.
In addition, 100 million yuan (about 13.9 million U.S. dollars)
was allocated for disaster relief, and agricultural experts were
sent to disaster-stricken areas, the Ministry of Agriculture
said.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)
