April Chong, Straits Times 1 Feb 08;
SINGAPORE'S supply of fruits and vegetables from China is unlikely to be affected by the winter storms on the mainland.
This is because fruits such as apples and pears from China have already been harvested and are in cold storage.
Mr Tay Khiam Back, chairman of the Singapore Fruits and Vegetables Importers and Exporters Association, told The Straits Times: 'The only impact is the delay in their transport to Singapore due to the poor weather conditions at the ports.'
He estimated that any delay would not last longer than a few days and would not affect prices of fruits and vegetables here.
Imports from southern China have not been affected by the bad weather.
Also, most Mandarin oranges for the Chinese New Year have already arrived.
Singapore imports about 25 per cent of its vegetables and 18 per cent of its fruits from China.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said vegetable importers here can quickly make a switch from China to other sources such as Malaysia.
'They will also be able to switch sources if the vegetable supply from China is affected, and this will help to mitigate any price increases,' said an AVA spokesman.
A check with NTUC FairPrice confirmed that fruit and vegetable prices have not been affected.
'We are well-stocked, and our supplies come from different countries. There will not be any disruption for the Chinese New Year period,' a spokesman said.
Snow impact on China crops 'very serious'
Business Times 1 Feb 08;
Official: Catastrophic effect on vegetables, fruit in some areas
(BEIJING) A top agriculture official warned yesterday that snow battering central China has dealt an 'extremely serious' blow to winter crops, raising the likelihood of future shortages driving already surging inflation.
Regions hit by the worst winter storms in 50 years provide the bulk of China's winter fruit and vegetable production, Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Communist Party's leading financial team, told reporters. The full magnitude of the losses was unclear and much depended on the weather, he said.
'The impact of the snow disaster in southern China on winter crop production is extremely serious,' Mr Chen said. 'The impact on fresh vegetables and on fruit in some places has been catastrophic.'
Two weeks of near continuous snow and ice storms have paralysed much of central and eastern China, stopping traffic, wrecking crops and killing dozens in road accidents and collapsed buildings.
Mr Chen said the overall effect on agriculture depended on how long the storms lasted and whether they moved into northern China, which produces most of the country's wheat and oil crops.
'If it heads northward, then the impact on the whole year's grain production will be noticeable,' he said. Cabinet and party officials have ordered plans into place to deal with an emergency, he added.
Mr Chen gave no figures on economic losses, although the Civil Affairs Ministry put the figure at 22 billion yuan (S$4.35 billion) since the storms began on Jan 10. Along with crops, fish and poultry farms have also been hard hit, and much industrial production is at a standstill.
Transport delays have already driven up vegetable prices nationwide, with those in the hardest-hit areas more than doubling.
Wholesalers in Beijing were quoted as saying only about 20 per cent of the usual supplies of fresh vegetables were reaching the city.
In the central city of Zhengzhou, tomatoes had doubled in price since before the storms hit, local media reported. Lamb and other meat prices soared in the southern transport and manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, and in nearby Shenzhen, the cost of 47 types of vegetables had risen by an average of 36 per cent, the reports said.
Fuel prices have also increased, with anthracite coal for household heating rising by 75 per cent to 1,500 yuan per tonne from before the snow.
Authorities have ordered a priority for coal and food shipments, with all tolls, fees and restrictions waived. On the tropical island province of Hainan, transport bottlenecks maxed out refrigeration capacity, with large amounts of fruit and vegetables at risk of simply being left to rot.
Food shortages complicate Beijing's struggle to lower inflation by increasing supplies, a task the government has made a top economic and political priority. Double-digit increases in food prices for much of last year drove December's inflation rate to 6.5 per cent. -- AP
China Snow Destroys Vegetables, Fruit, Rapeseed
PlanetArk 1 Feb 08;
BEIJING - Unusual cold weather and heavy snow have had a "catastrophic" impact on fruit and vegetables in southern China and hit oilseeds grown along the Yangtze River, a senior agricultural policy official said on Thursday.
But the winter wheat crop along the Yellow and Huai River was unlikely to be much affected, said Chen Xiwen, director of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Rural Work.
"The snow and cold weather have had a serious effect on winter crops in the south, especially vegetables and fruit where it's been catastrophic," Chen told reporters.
The vegetable shortage in particular could feed rising prices, he said. He estimated inflation in January would be roughly in line with December's 6.5 percent [ID:nPEK177073].
Traders have said that hard freezes could hurt oilseeds, especially rapeseed, but that any damage could be offset by a sharp increase in planted acreage this winter.
Snow and ice across south and central China have cut power and snarled transport, and in some cases brought ice to areas used to mild winters.
The cold weather and disruption in deliveries of feed has caused the deaths of 874,000 pigs, 85,000 cattle, 459,000 sheep and goats and 14.36 million poultry, Chen Weisheng, vice director of the livestock bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, said in an online press conference on Thursday.
But increased snowfall could also mean more water this year for China, which struggled with drought in 2007. That could help raise overall grains production, Goldman Sachs economist Hong Liang said on Thursday in a research note.
Chen Xiwen said it was too early to tell if there would be any impact on full-year agricultural output, especially grains, since it was too early for most planting.
"To assess the full extent of the disaster, we have to see how long this weather pattern lasts and whether it moves north. If it does, it could be serious," he said. (Reporting by Lucy Hornby; editing by Michael Roddy)
