Read at : Google Alert – drought
Wen warns China will have problems meeting food needs due to drought and brutal winter
William Bi
Business Week
China, the biggest grain user, faces a test meeting a crop-output target because of drought in the southwest and a cold winter in the north, Premier Wen Jiabao said, underscoring the challenges brought on by bad weather.
Meeting this year’s goal of growing 500 million metric tons of grains will be a “test for sure,” the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Wen. Wheat output in China may fall because of the cold weather, Wen was cited by the state agency as saying during a trip to drought-hit Yunnan from March 19-21.
China’s leaders have prioritized food security to ensure that the world’s most populous nation has adequate supplies and stockpiles. Rivers in China’s southwest have plunged to record low levels, according to the Ministry of Water Resources. About 18 million people are short of drinking water, Xinhua reported.
“There is little prospect for meaningful rainfall until May” in the southwest, forecaster Accuweather Inc. said in an e-mail. “The drought is badly affecting the planting of crops” and a serious shortage of water in reservoirs will make it even harder for planting to be sustained, it said.
China set the 500 million ton target in February and the goal is lower than last year’s harvest of 530.8 million tons, Xinhua said in the report late yesterday. Output had increased in the six years to 2009, the report said.
‘Having an Impact’
“The cold weather and drought are definitely having an impact on China’s wheat crop,” Jay O’Neil, an adviser to the U.S. Grains Council, said by phone from Shandong today. Still, it’s too soon to tell what the outcome may be because wheat is a “hardy” crop that can recover if conditions improve, he said.
The drought in the China’s southwest, which may have been caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, extends southward into Southeast Asia. The Mekong River, which flows from China through five countries including Cambodia is at its lowest level in 30 years, Thailand’s Department of Water Resources said on March 10.
Rice production may drop and the price may jump because of the dry weather, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said March 2. Palm oil output in Malaysia, the world’s second-largest grower, may decline 2 percent to 3 percent this year on the El Nino, the Malaysian Estate Owners Association said March 19.
China maintains grain stockpiles of 150 million to 200 million tons, equivalent to about 40 percent of the nation’s annual demand, China Grain Reserves Corp. President Bao Kexin said March 6. Wen judges that the country’s grains market would be “too tight” with less than 150 million tons, according to Bao. Sinograin, as the company is also known, is a state-run entity that stockpiles grain for the government.
Wheat Stockpiles
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