January 11, 2012

China is releasing more than 5,000 tonnes of beef and mutton from government reserves to major cities in the Muslim-dominated northwest Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to rein in food inflation in the holiday season.

Frozen mutton and beef will be released to the market at about 60% of the retail prices in the cities of Urumqi, Karamay and Changji, among others, until January 19, said Polat Abdukadeer, deputy head of Xinjiang's commerce bureau, on Tuesday (Jan 10).

The government is also imposing purchasing limits - a person, for example, can only buy 10 kg of frozen beef at a time, the official said.

Abdukadeer said the opening of the state and regional meat reserves is a move aimed at ensuring sufficient market supply for people in Xinjiang, especially low-income residents and the disadvantaged, so they can have easy access to high-quality meat for Chinese New Year, which falls on January 23.

The price of mutton in Xinjiang has been rising sharply over the past few years as a result of declining sheep-breeding and rising demand.

Government statistics show that mutton was sold at RMB44.92 (US$7.07) per kg in mid-December last year, up 9.7% from a year earlier. Mutton prices in southern Xinjiang, where Muslims make up more than 90% of the population, had gone over RMB50 (US$7.92) per kg.

This is the second time since 2011 that China has opened state meat reserves to Xinjiang, and the local government has drawn up policies to curb inflation on food, Abdukadeer added.