Spring Festival Consumer Market to Have Ample and Stable Supply（Jan 29，2007）

2007-01-29 10:40:22

    Mr. LIU Mengjin, chief director of Ningbo Trade Bureau announces that to make people enjoy a happy and peaceful Spring Festival, the trade sector of the city is going to all lengths to ensure the supply of commodities during the festival, and that the commodities for the festival are more diversified, foods safer, market brisker and price more stable. This is to be achieved by efforts made as follows:
    Organizing Ample Supply of Goods to Meet all Needs and Ensure a More Stable Market
    An ample supply of daily commodities: Stores and supermarkets in urban areas have prepared a sufficient stock of rice, edible oil, sugar and product oil. In rural areas and remote areas, low-price and fine-quality products for Spring Festival are provided in large quantity in chain stores and the so-called “Fake-Free” stores.
    Special efforts made to ensure food supply: Currently, the city area has a daily supply of 2,400 live pigs, with another 50,000 live pigs in reserve for the festival; 400 tons of aquatic products per day, with 6,000 tons in reserve; 1,200 tons of vegetables per day, with 3,000 tons in reserve for the festival; 110 tons of bean products, with 200,000 pieces of dried bean curds vacuum packed and 150,000 pieces of qianceng (thin sheets of bean curd) reserved in cold storages. Moreover, the production capacity of bean products can be raised by 50%. So during the Spring Festival the supply of Four Dishes (Pork, Fish, Vegetable and Bean Product) is out of question.
    Contingency plans for market supply made: in light of the brisk market demand and concentrated consumption during the Spring festival, and in case there are snow storms and freezing weather, contingency plans for market supply have been made. The Trade Bureau has particularly stored up the above-mentioned four foods. To meet the needs of private car owners during the holiday, the trade bureau has organized the supply of product oils, and has prepared a stock of 50,000 tons to meet the demand. Meanwhile, it shall reinforce the market survey and keep a close watch on the fluctuations of the market.
    Monitoring and Supervision Strengthened to Ensure Food Safety
    The trade departments have tightened up the quality inspection efforts on the Spring Festival market, keeping a tighter control on market access, testing and law enforcement. Firstly, a campaign on checkup of goods in stores and supermarkets shall be waged before the Spring Festival, so as to keep out the inferior quality products. Inspectors shall go into stores and supermarkets to check on production date, shelf period, supply source, packing and hygienic conditions. Secondly, the model “100 towns and 1000 villages” shall be fully used to give their exemplary effect. The 91 township chain stores and 2,858 fake-free stores across the city shall keep a tight control on food safety and make themselves places for people to buy quality products. Thirdly, more efforts shall be made to quarantine, monitor and supervise, with focus on testing of residual pesticides on vegetables, residues of clenbuterol and diethylstilbestrol in pork, formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide in aquatic products, hygienic indexes of bean products, etc, the results of which will be made public online.
    The live pigs and beef cattle shall be slaughtered in designated slaughterhouses and a market access system is imposed on bean products. The five aquatic products wholesale markets and 31 vegetable markets across the city shall receive quality inspection and testing. A market access system and a clockwise testing system shall be imposed on the only wholesale market of vegetable of the city. In view of the fact that last year peacock green was found in aquatic products in some areas in China, the trade and circulation sector, as the end customer of aquatic products, requires supermarkets, stores and food markets reinforce the efforts in guarding against it. Meanwhile, the trade bureau, together with departments of industry and commerce, health, agriculture and quality control, shall increase the screening efforts so as to ensure the food safety in wholesale and retail markets, processing plants and catering establishments. Any unlawful practice shall be punished.
    Large Commodities Fair to Be Put on to Make the Holiday Market Brisker
    The 18th Spring Festival Commodities Fair shall be put on Feb 8-14 at the Sports Center, with the exhibition area to reach 10,000 square meters and with 350 booths. It shall surpass the previous ones in scale, commodity variety and quality. An access system is imposed on all the exhibits, which fall into 20 categories, including vegetables, aquatic products, meat and eggs, seasonings, grains and oil, wines, beverages, fruits, dairy products, dried products, preserves and dried fruits, and healthcare products, etc, totaling 3000 items. In view of the relatively scarce supply of meat in the market, several beef and pork counters shall be set up at the fair, offering beef and pork at a price slightly lower than the market price. By then, 1,500 very poor families will get a gift respectively--- a package of Spring Festival commodities.
    Market Analysis to Be Conducted to Keep Track of Market Fluctuations and to Ensure a Stable Market Supply
    We shall initiate a sound early warning mechanism on the consumer market, with particular emphasis on monitoring of grains, edible oil, pork, eggs, vegetables and other daily necessities, the purpose of which is to feel the pulse of the market fluctuations and to ensure the amply supply during the spring festival. From Jan 20 to Feb 25, the weekly monitoring on 40 daily necessities shall be changed into daily monitoring, which imposes a real-time price monitoring on 11 entities, including the Sangjiang Shopping Club, Xin-Jiang-Xia Store, New Hualian Store, Ci-Ke-Long, Metro Store, Ningbo Vegetables Wholesale Market, Gaotang Food Market, Baihe Food Market, Baisha Food Market and Ningbo Fruits Market. Meanwhile, a dynamic monitoring shall also be conducted on big stores, hotels and catering businesses located in the urban areas, counties and districts.
    Based on the experience of previous years and the actual conditions of this year, the Spring Festival market is expected to be stable in terms of price, especially foodstuffs, daily necessities. In view of the impact from the international market and of the domestic goods circulation, the price of grains, edible oil and other non-staple foods will go up a little bit. The trade departments shall step up efforts in ensuring the market supply of grains and edible oil and stabilizing the grains market. Meanwhile, they shall reinforce the market monitoring and keep a close watch on the demand and supply of the grains market and the price fluctuations, so as to have a clear picture of purchase and sales, stock, price changes and analyze for the trend of price changes. Once some trend or any tendency of inflation is identified, prompt measures shall be taken to tackle it.