June 27, 2005

China's efforts to raise domestic wheat prices pay off

The national unit price per kilogram for wheat in China has risen RMB0.10 (US$0.012) to RMB1.3 (US$0.16) compared with recent days, according to the domestic market price monitoring system.

The Chinese government has addressed measures to optimise farmers' selling prices at a stable and reasonable level in order to encourage wheat planting in coming years.

China reaped 89 billion kilograms of wheat this summer, up 2.5 billion kilograms over last year.

The government reported that the current yield is still 10 billion kilograms short of meeting domestic demand and has arranged for 6.5 billion kilograms of wheat reserves to be purchased at a unit price of about RMB1.4 (US$0.17). The reserves are expected to satisfy domestic demand.