China’s government has announced a series of actions to curb rising food inflation, including increasing the level of horticultural production and reducing speculation.
According to official data, the country’s average wholesale prices for key vegetable categories like potatoes and cucumbers across 36 cities were 62.4 per cent higher than the same time last year, reported the AFP.
A series of cold snaps following a summer of severe flooding have hit China’s horticultural production hard, compounded this year by rising inflation.
On Sunday, the Chinese government ordered local governments to increase agricultural production, stabilise supplies and reduce prices, according to a Xinhua report.
The government also said it would release more land for vegetable cultivation and would “seriously work” to prevent hoarding of agricultural products and other “speculative practices”.
Those controls on speculation are no doubt largely prompted by the soaring price of Chinese garlic over the last two seasons, driven by price speculation on the three garlic futures markets in the country.
