The government has "ample stocks" to meet market demand amid
sharp price rises of some major food items, officials told China
Daily yesterday.
"We have sufficient grain reserves supply can be ensured," Yao
Xiumin, deputy chief of the Macro-Management Department of the
State Grain Administration, said.
In major Chinese cities, prices for top-grade flour rose 7
percent in early December from a month earlier, with soybean oils
increasing by about 16 percent, according to official
statistics.
"It is not unusual to see prices go up before the Spring
Festival, and the purpose of macro controls is to cap them from
rising too much," Yao said.
The government procured at least 41 million tons of wheat, or 40
percent of the country's total output, for supply to the urban
market, according to officials. Farmers do not usually count on
State reserves for food supplies.
Another factor likely to keep prices in check are good harvests
anticipated this year for all major grains, except for paddy in
Southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality
because of drought, according to Wang Jianlin of the National
Meteorological Centre.
To control price rises, Yao's agency and the National
Development and Reform Commission have approved the auction of 3.8
million tons of grain reserves since the end of November.
China is capable of keeping the food prices from "spiralling" by
selling State reserves, Yao said, but declined to specify the size
of the reserves.
There might have been certain delays in sales of wheat reserves,
procured exclusively by China Grain Reserves Corp, which could have
led to price rises since October, said Wang Xiaobing, an official
with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Wang, division director with the ministry's Crops Cultivation
Department, said that as long as the reserves are released at a
"reasonable pace," there would be no problem with supplies; and
prices would remain at a reasonable level.
The shortage in international markets, caused by drought in some
grain producing nations, coupled with rising enthusiasm to use
grains for making biofuel, have also contributed to the rising
prices in China, experts said.
The latest forecast for world wheat output in 2006 stands at
roughly 592 million tons, a drop of nearly 33 million tons, or 5.3
percent, from 2005, the Food and Agriculture Organization said last
Thursday.
In contrast, China's wheat output increased by 7 percent
year-on-year to hit 105 million tons in 2006, slightly exceeding
demand, according to Wang.
Wheat accounts for nearly 90 percent of the crops harvested in
summer. Summer grain, in turn, contributes to a quarter of China's
total grain production, Wang said.
In Shenzhen, the wholesale price of cooking oil increased by 20
to 30 percent from October.
But rice and flour rose by a modest 4 percent, according to the
local pricing department.
Of the cooking oils, bulk colza and soybean oil led the price
hike, rising 37.9 percent and 33.3 percent.
In Shanghai, the price of refined oil increased 12-13 percent
from a month earlier, with soybean oil showing the biggest gains,
according to the Shanghai Economic Committee.
(China Daily December 13, 2006)