Power supply and coal reserves continued to resume in China yesterday, while
the government has been exerting efforts to maintain price stability after a
worst-in-decades snow snarl.
A total of 22.12 million households, or 93.1 percent of those deprived of
power during the snow storm, had regained access to electricity by Monday, said
the Disaster Relief and Emergency Command Center under the State
Council last night.
Reserves of coal for power generation increased 800,000 tons to 23.1 million
tons on Sunday, equaling 12 days' supply for the country's power plants, said
the command center.
It said in a statement that government departments had beefed up coal
transportation as coal shipments from north China's four major ports hit a
record high of 1.42 million tons on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the average wholesale price of vegetables yesterday fell for the
third day consecutively, down 0.3 percent from Sunday, but prices of most
vegetables rose in the provinces of Hunan, Anhui and Sichuan, all severely hit
by the cold chill, according to the command center.
Figures from the Ministry of Commerce showed egg, beef and mutton prices saw
a small drop while prices of edible oil and small-packages of rice went up
slightly yesterday.
The command center said market prices were basically stable, urging
disaster-hit areas to resume vegetable production and increase supply as soon as
possible.
"Snow and ice has caused heavy losses to agriculture, especially vegetable
production, in some regions," it said.
The command center required local governments to expand the planting area of
vegetables in the south for supplying the north and increase vegetable
production in green houses.
Transport departments have rushed food to snow-hit regions to ensure supply
and keep prices stable during the ongoing holiday week to celebrate the Spring
Festival, the most important traditional festival in China.
From Jan. 25 to Sunday, railways shipped 113,000 cars of food like grains,
vegetables and fruits to disaster-hit regions, said the command center.
China's transport systems are only just creaking back to life after freak
cold and ice storms hit swathes of the country since mid-January, causing
billions of dollars in damage and killing at least 80 people.
A total of 340,000 armed policemen had been dispatched to help disaster
relief work across the country by 5 pm yesterday, while 6.56 million stranded
passengers and disaster-hit residents had been rescued by yesterday, said the
command center.