May 20, 2008

China's agriculture production to remain optimistic despite massive quake

Although the Sichuan earthquake brought about heavy losses for China's agriculture industry, China's agriculture ministry maintained an optimistic outlook for the industry in the months ahead.

According to the ministry's vice-minister, Wei Chaoan, China is expecting a good volume of edible oil production and successful spring planting. The developments of livestock sectors like hogs and aquaculture are also expected to be stable.

Since the earthquake on May 12, provincial governments in Sichuan, Gansu and so on have started to monitor the supplies and prices of agriculture products in those regions. There will be appropriate interventions should the situation calls for it so as to ensure stability in affected provinces.

At the same time, an analyst with China's agriculture ministry said greater cross-provincial transports of agriculture products will guarantee adequate supplies of agriculture products across the country.