China urges families to keep stocks of daily necessities ahead of winter

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (BNA): The Chinese government has asked households to keep daily necessities in stock in case of emergency after unusually heavy rains sent vegetable prices soaring and raised concerns about supply shortages.

A Commerce Department statement late on Monday urged local authorities to do a good job of ensuring supplies and price stability, and to give early warnings about any supply problems, Reuters reported.

The central government usually makes extra efforts to increase the supply of fresh vegetables and pork in the run-up to China’s most important holiday, the Lunar New Year, which will fall in early February next year.

But those efforts are becoming more urgent this year after severe weather in early October decimated crops in Shandong – the country’s largest vegetable growing region – as outbreaks of COVID-19 cases stretching from the northwest to the northeast threaten to disrupt the food supply. .

In the past week, the prices of cucumbers, spinach and broccoli have more than doubled since early October. Spinach was more expensive than some pork chops at 16.67 yuan ($2.60) per kilogram, according to a vegetable price index in Shouguang, a major shopping center in Shandong.

Despite falling prices in recent days, economists expect a significant year-on-year increase in consumer price inflation for October, the first in five months.

The pandemic has heightened focus on Beijing’s food security. The government is currently drafting a food security law and has also outlined new efforts to reduce food waste after making the problem a priority last year.

The Ministry of Commerce added that local authorities should buy vegetables that can be stored early and also look to strengthen emergency delivery networks to ensure smooth and efficient distribution channels.

It added that information on prices, supply and demand for commodities should be disclosed in a timely manner to stabilize public expectations.

China is also planning to release vegetable reserves “in time” to counter price hikes, according to a state TV report late Monday.

It is not clear what vegetables China holds in reserves and how large these reserves are.

The state planning body has called for the timely replanting of vegetables, urging local governments to support fast-growing produce, according to the report.

The Ministry of Agriculture said China currently has about 100 million mu (6.67 million hectares) planted with vegetables.

MI