January 9, 2008

 

Food prices continue to climb in China's cities
 

 

Food prices continued to climb in major Chinese cities, with the approaching Spring Festival expected to bring up prices further.

 

The average retail price for lean pork in 36 Chinese medium and large cities stood at RMB14.09/500g in the week from December 31st, 2007 to January 4th, 2008, increasing slightly by 0.93% week-on-week, according to the latest statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission.

 

The average retail prices for beef, mutton, chicken and eggs per 500g were RMB14.64, RMB15.51 and RMB7.24 and RMB3.53 respectively. When compared to the previous week, from December 24th to December 29th, 2007, the beef and mutton prices increased by 3.1 percent and 1.11 percent respectively, while the chicken and egg prices slightly.

Guangzhou
 

Due to the pork supply shortage, Guangzhou City's pork price has been soaring since 2007, leading to the increase in the prices of other types of meat, eggs, aquatic products and other foodstuff, according to Guangzhou City's Economic and Trade Commission news on January 7th.

 

To deal with the situation, the Commission has established live pig production and sales cooperation leagues with large-scale pig farms in Jiangxi Province in order to ensure the pork supply in Guangzhou.

 

The city has also been beefing up its frozen pork reserves by 1,000 tonnes as well as increasing its frozen pork volume on the market. The city has also established a special supply system for live pig transportation.

 

As a result of these measures, the live pig transaction volume in the City returned to the levels before the price hike, with the daily transaction volume at approximately 11,000 heads.  The daily frozen pork supply volume was at 800 tonnes, basically meeting meat consumption demand.

Hong Kong
 

Rising food prices and pricier homes combined to drive Hong Kong's inflation to a nine-year high in November.

 

Consumer prices rose 3.4 percent in November compared with the same period last year.

 

Hong Kong imports most of its food requirements from China, where inflation jumped to an 11-year high of 6.9 percent during November.

 

Inflation was highest on beef prices, which soared 35.2 percent on November 2006, followed by a 31.1 percent rise in canned meat prices,

 

Egg prices rose 30 percent while pork prices grew 28 percent. Poultry prices were up 15 percent, according to Sing Dao Daily.

 

Chongqing's Meat Prices Rise 
 

The prices of Chongqing Municipality's meat, poultry and eggs will continue to fluctuate a a high level in January, according to the Municipality's Agricultural Bureau. Prices of live pig and pork will rise slightly, the prices of beef and mutton will increase steadily, while the prices of chicken farm eggs and live poultry will remain unchanged.

 

The prices of aquatic products are expected to drop steadily, while Chongqing Municipality's grain price will remain steady. Finally, the prices of edible oil will be kept at a high level before and after the Lunar New Year holidays.

 

Qinhuangdao starts pork storage programme 
 

Qinhuangdao City started storing frozen pork and live pigs at the end of 2007, according to the Municipal Bureau of Commerce. The city's pork price will probably remain high during the 2008 Spring Festival holidays, according to the Bureau.  Calculated on the basis of daily pork consumption of 100g per capita in urban areas, the City will store 6,000 live pigs and 100 tonnes of frozen pork in seven days. Qinhuangdao City decided that the live pig storage work will be completed by seven breeding farms and that the frozen pork storage will be undertaken by Funing County-based Hebei Hongdu Industrial Group Co., Ltd in a deal worth RMB 2.46 million.

 

Shijiazhuang meat prices rise
 

Shijiazhuang City's prices for packaged chicken, aquatic products, eggs dropped in December 2007, while the prices for meat and edible oil increased, according to the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce.

 

With the Spring Festival in early February approaching, demand for all types of daily necessities will gradually increase and that meat and edible oil will be in short supply this month.

 

Increased transportation cost also brought upward pressure for all types of products.