In the face of rising prices China's central government has ordered local departments to ensure there are sufficient grain supplies.??

 

A circular issued by the State Council stressed tighter monitoring of the market and any price changes to grain products. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that China's grain price increased by 4.7 percent in November. This is one percent higher than October's rise.

 

The increase is indicative of a recovery in farm produce prices after a decline in recent years and may help increase farmers' income, said the circular.

 

China's grain prices have been low for several years and dampened farmers' enthusiasm for the product. But good harvests for three consecutive years and more attentive government policies have seen prices rise. Grain output is expected to reach at least 490 billion kilograms this year. In 2005 it was 484 billion kilograms.

 

The rising price of grain products, although recovering from a very low level, has alerted the government to possible panic in the market. Measures should be taken to guarantee the grain supply and maintain prices at a reasonable level to ensure the lives of low-income families are not affected, said the circular. Priority should go to colleges, factories and mines as well as low-income urban residents, it adds.

 

The circular calls for strict implementation of subsidies for low-income urban residents and poorer college students. It also advocates closer inspection of large-scale wholesale grain markets, supermarkets and those selling farm produce to prevent goods being forestalled, price hikes and the sale of fake and substandard products.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2006)