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.
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming earlier this month called
on local agencies to ensure market supply during the Spring
Festival season, adding the MOC was endeavoring to increase the
market supply of vegetables, fruit and meat in snow-strangled
areas.
The MOC, the Ministry of Railway and the Ministry of
Communications held a supply and sale coordination meeting in the
southern Hainan Province on Feb. 2. It?decided vegetables and
fruit from Hainan would be provided to the snow-hit Anhui, Jiangxi,
Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, among others.
Official statistics revealed that between Feb. 6 and Feb. 12,
170,000 tons of vegetables were shipped to 14 snow-stricken
provinces, including Jiangsu, Hunan, Anhui and Guizhou, to ease a
shortage of fresh produce and price increase pressures there.
(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2008)
