China intensifies emergency food supply amid increasing extreme weather events

BEIJING - China has reinforced its emergency food supply in response to increasing extreme weather events and natural disasters, an official said Wednesday.

With over 1,200 grain market information monitoring stations established nationwide, the country is tracking changes in grain inventories, prices and sales to ensure that risks are promptly identified, Liu Huanxin, head of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, said during an interview with Xinhua.

All food authorities at the provincial, municipal and county levels have developed contingency plans, while over 59,000 emergency food supply outlets have been put into use nationwide, Liu said.

He noted that despite global food market fluctuations in recent years, China's food prices have remained relatively stable thanks to consecutive bumper harvests, sufficient inventories and effective market regulatory measures.

The country will continue to improve its minimum grain purchase price policy and make full use of its grain reserves to guarantee adequate supply and stable prices, Liu added.

With a population of over 1.4 billion, China has made food security one of its top priorities. Its annual grain output has maintained above 650 million tons for nine consecutive years. The country is now fully self-sufficient in wheat and rice, its two staple grains.