China urges families to keep stocks of daily necessities ahead of winter
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
January 29, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2023
China urges families to keep stocks of daily necessities ahead of winter

China

Reuters
02 November, 2021, 04:35 pm
Last modified: 02 November, 2021, 04:37 pm

Related News

  • China central bank to roll over lending tools to spur growth
  • China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • China's 2022 smartphone shipments the lowest in 10 years, research firm says
  • China aims to boost consumption and imports as global demand cools
  • H&M highlights fast-fashion gloom as luxury takes hit in China

China urges families to keep stocks of daily necessities ahead of winter

The commerce ministry directive late on Monday stirred some concern on domestic social media that it may have been triggered by heightened tensions with Taiwan, while some said people were rushing to stock up on rice, cooking oil and salt

Reuters
02 November, 2021, 04:35 pm
Last modified: 02 November, 2021, 04:37 pm
Two grandmothers with their granddaughter trade vegetables at a market on the outskirts of Shanghai, China June 3, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
Two grandmothers with their granddaughter trade vegetables at a market on the outskirts of Shanghai, China June 3, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

The Chinese government has told families to keep daily necessities in stock in case of emergencies, after Covid-19 outbreaks and unusually heavy rains that caused a surge in vegetable prices raised concerns about supply shortages.

The commerce ministry directive late on Monday stirred some concern on domestic social media that it may have been triggered by heightened tensions with Taiwan, while some said people were rushing to stock up on rice, cooking oil and salt.

"As soon as this news came out, all the old people near me went crazy panic buying in the supermarket," wrote one user on China's Twitter-like Weibo.

Local media has also recently published lists of recommended goods to store at home including biscuits and instant noodles, vitamins, radios and flashlights.

The public response forced state media on Tuesday to try to soothe fears and clarify the ministry's statement.

The Economic Daily, a Communist Party-backed newspaper, told netizens not to have "too much of an overactive imagination" and that the directive's purpose was to make sure citizens were not caught off guard if there was a lockdown in their area.

The People's Daily said the ministry issues such notices every year, but had issued its instruction earlier this year because of natural disasters, the surge in vegetable prices and recent Covid-19 cases.

The ministry's statement late on Monday urged local authorities to do a good job in ensuring supply and stable prices, and to give early warnings of any supply problems.

Extreme weather

The government typically makes extra efforts to boost fresh vegetable and pork supplies before China's most important holiday, Lunar New Year, which in 2022 falls in early February.

But this year those efforts have become more urgent after extreme weather in early October destroyed crops in Shandong - the country's biggest vegetable growing region - and as outbreaks of Covid-19 cases stretching from the northwest to the northeast of the country threaten to disrupt food supplies.

Last week, prices of cucumbers, spinach and broccoli had more than doubled from early October. Spinach was more expensive than some cuts of pork at 16.67 yuan ($2.60) per kg, a vegetable price index in Shouguang, a trading hub in Shandong, indicated.

Although prices have eased in recent days, economists expect a significant year-on-year increase in consumer price inflation for October, the first in five months.

The pandemic has brought an increased focus on food security, with the government drafting a food security law and outlining new efforts to curb food waste.

The commerce ministry said local authorities should buy vegetables that can be stored well in advance and also strengthen emergency delivery networks. Information about prices and supply and demand of commodities should be released in a timely manner to stabilise people's expectations, it added.

China also plans to release vegetable reserves "at an appropriate time" to counter rising prices, according to a state TV report late on Monday. It is not clear which vegetables China holds in reserves and how big those reserves are.

The state planning body has called for the timely replanting of vegetables, urging local governments to support fast-growing produce, according to the report.

China has about 100 million mu (6.7 million hectares) planted with vegetables, the agriculture ministry has said.

($1 = 6.3999 Chinese yuan)

World+Biz / Global Economy

china / winter / market

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Photo: TBS
    It's corruption that bites business harder: CPD
  • Import slowdown to affect economic growth: ADB country head
    Import slowdown to affect economic growth: ADB country head
  • Photo: Collected
    Foreign loan pledges fall 60% in H1  

MOST VIEWED

  • FILE PHOTO: US Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) arrives at Trump Tower to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump in New York, US, November 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
    Odds 'very high' of US military conflict with China, top Republican says
  • China central bank to roll over lending tools to spur growth
    China central bank to roll over lending tools to spur growth
  • FIKE PHOTO: Medical staff moves a patient into a fever clinic at a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • FILE PHOTO: People look at smartphones in Huawei's first global flagship store in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China on 30 October 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
    China's 2022 smartphone shipments the lowest in 10 years, research firm says
  • Crew members signal to a F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet preparing to take off for a routine flight on board the US USS Nimitz aircraft carrier during a routine deployment to the South China Sea, Mid-Sea, January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Joseph Campbell/File Photo
    US four-star general warns of war with China in 2025
  • China’s economic policies in the post-pandemic situation have boosted its GDP and production of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises grew rapidly. Photo: Bloomberg
    China aims to boost consumption and imports as global demand cools

Related News

  • China central bank to roll over lending tools to spur growth
  • China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • China's 2022 smartphone shipments the lowest in 10 years, research firm says
  • China aims to boost consumption and imports as global demand cools
  • H&M highlights fast-fashion gloom as luxury takes hit in China

Features

Nandita Sharmin's journey to give organic skincare a new identity

Nandita Sharmin's journey to give organic skincare a new identity

9h | Mode
Illustration: TBS

'The silver lining is that the worst is sort of behind us': Hamid Rashid, UN economist

13h | Panorama
Photo: Bloomberg

BuzzFeed and AI are a match made in fad city

12h | Panorama
Snipe in flight. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Baikka Beel: 'A world where snipe work late'

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Sarika Sabrin is waiting for a good film

Sarika Sabrin is waiting for a good film

3h | TBS Entertainment
Take your football game to the next level at Next Level academy

Take your football game to the next level at Next Level academy

4h | TBS SPORTS
“Investments risky without consistent policy, reliable data”- SK Bashir Uddin

“Investments risky without consistent policy, reliable data”- SK Bashir Uddin

6h | TBS Round Table
What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

What does Shahrukh has in his 770 million dollar property?

1d | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

3
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

4
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

5
Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
Bangladesh

Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]