Special Report: China's war on snow havoc

    BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese grain and oil supplies are sufficient and the prices of most commodities are experiencing a slight decline as the government exerts efforts to maintain price stability after the worst winter in decades.

    National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) figures revealed the prices of pork, egg and vegetables fell, while grain and oil prices remained stable in the disaster-hit provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Henan on Wednesday.

    The price of green peppers was down 16.7 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, in Chongqing Municipality and Anhui Province on Wednesday compared with the previous day. Pork fell by as much as 6.7 percent in some weather-stricken areas, according to the statistics.

    "The snow may have little impact on the overall market. Prices of vegetables and other farming commodities certainly will continue to come down as the weather warms," said Huang Hai, Ministry of Commerce assistant minister.

    To make sure of sufficient grain supply and to maintain a stable grain price, the government has responded with a variety of measures. These included freezing prices on a slew of goods, to boosting farm subsidies and curbing the industrial use of corn.

    Separately, the government is giving departments related to food supply a green light in a bid to revive the production of crops, livestock and poultry. Some regions have also launched emergency mechanisms to solve the problem of food shortage.

    Transport departments have made a full effort to cooperate with other departments in rushing food to snow-hit regions to ensure supply and keep prices stable.

    The central government allotted tons of state-reserved meat to the disaster-hit provinces of Guizhou, Anhui and Hubei during the recent Spring Festival, and delivered as much as 170,000 tons of vegetables to 14 provinces.

    From Jan. 25 to Feb. 11, railways shipped 113,000 cars of food in grain, vegetables and fruits to disaster-hit regions.

    To ensure corn supply in Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, NDRC and the State Administration of Grain (SAG), along with the Finance Ministry and China Grain Reserve Corporation, jointly allotted 12,600 tons of corn from the country's grain abundant southeast earlier this month.

    Although prices of some commodities in a handful of remote areas were slightly higher due to bad transport conditions, market prices would not be affected on the whole, Huang explained.

Official: Snowstorm won't affect Chinese food prices "too heavily"

    BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Huang Hai, assistant minister of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday during a press conference here that the snow storm influenced the nation's food prices to some extent, but not "too heavily."

    National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) figures revealed the prices of pork, egg and vegetables fell nationwide, while grain and oil prices remained stable in the snow-hit provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Henan on Wednesday.  Full story

Vegetable prices in China's snow-hit areas decreases 3.2%

    BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Vegetables in 14 snow-affected provinces in China monitored by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) decreased 3.2 percent on Feb. 12 from the average price before the Spring Festival starting on Feb. 7, a MOC source told Xinhua on Thursday.

    Winter storms have plagued the country's south since mid-January, leading to widespread traffic jams, blackouts and crop loss in 19 provinces. The weather chaos killed at least 107 people and affected about 150 million residents, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.  Full story 

China's snow disaster areas shift focus to reconstruction work

    CHANGSHA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Areas of China affected by the recent severe weather have shifted from emergency work to reconstruction, with transport and power supplies returning to normal.

    The government of central Hunan Province, one of the areas hardest hit by the worst weather in half a century, said that it would offer a subsidy of 5,000 yuan (694 U.S. dollars) to each household whose residence was destroyed. Around 67,000 houses in Hunan collapsed in the snowy weather, which persisted from mid-January through late in the month. Full story

China to spend more on severe winter weather relief

    BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Finance has spent 2.7 billion yuan (375 million U.S. dollars) over the past month on relief for areas affected by the severe winter weather and has allocated another 6.3 billion yuan for the work, senior ministry official You Mingchun said on Thursday.

    Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo told a press conference on Thursday that the central government would most likely spend more on the disaster relief, without revealing the scale of further financial support. Full story