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Premier Wen Jiabao told government departments to take immediate measures to support pork production and increase supplies to prevent a surge in the price of the meat, a key factor pushing up China's inflation rate.
During a weekend visit to Shaanxi province, Wen said that keeping consumer prices stable and taming inflation remain the government's top priorities.
The government will not change the direction of its macroeconomic policies, and it will work hard to achieve economic and social development goals, said Wen.
Fast-rising pork prices were a key factor pushing up the consumer price index (CPI) a main gauge of inflation to 6.4 percent in June, a three-year high, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Saturday.
"To stabilize pork prices is the government's unavoidable responsibility" because of pork's importance in the Chinese diet, said Wen. According to the NBS, pork prices increased 57.1 percent year-on-year in June. The gain accounted for 1.37 percentage points of the CPI increase. Pork prices jumped by 11.4 percent month-on-month in June, following a gain of 2.6 percent in May, said the NBS. Lower pork prices in 2010 drove many farmers to give up breeding pigs, Li Chaoxian, a leader of a small village in Shaanxi province, told Wen, according to the website of the Chinese government, www.gov.cn. Soaring costs for corn (the main component of pig feed) and labor also drove up pork prices, said Li.
During a weekend visit to Shaanxi province, Wen said that keeping consumer prices stable and taming inflation remain the government's top priorities.
The government will not change the direction of its macroeconomic policies, and it will work hard to achieve economic and social development goals, said Wen.
Fast-rising pork prices were a key factor pushing up the consumer price index (CPI) a main gauge of inflation to 6.4 percent in June, a three-year high, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Saturday.
"To stabilize pork prices is the government's unavoidable responsibility" because of pork's importance in the Chinese diet, said Wen. According to the NBS, pork prices increased 57.1 percent year-on-year in June. The gain accounted for 1.37 percentage points of the CPI increase. Pork prices jumped by 11.4 percent month-on-month in June, following a gain of 2.6 percent in May, said the NBS. Lower pork prices in 2010 drove many farmers to give up breeding pigs, Li Chaoxian, a leader of a small village in Shaanxi province, told Wen, according to the website of the Chinese government, www.gov.cn. Soaring costs for corn (the main component of pig feed) and labor also drove up pork prices, said Li.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-07/12/content_12880744.htm
