China supporting local farmers

Bloomberg.com: China

China’s pricing officials, who wrestled with surging inflation in the first half this year, are shifting tasks as sliding prices of crops reduce farming income and planting interest. Falling coal and crude oil costs are giving the government the opportunity to align domestic prices with imports.

Pricing authorities must “strengthen price-control capability and enhance the function of reserves of key commodities including grain, pork, vegetable oil, petroleum, power-station coal and fertilizer,” said the statement, which summarized a weekend meeting of regional pricing administrators.

China this month ended a yearlong temporary price-control measure after global commodity prices tumbled. Reserve officials, under order from the commission, are buying as much as 30.5 million metric tons of grain from farmers as private industry traders shun local crops for cheaper imports.

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