BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China is confident in its ability to keep food prices stable with bumper grain harvests, expanding hog production and sufficient supply of other fresh food, an official said Monday.
The country has achieved another year of good harvests in 2019 with its grain output hitting a record high of around 664 million tonnes, laying a solid foundation for the stability of food prices, Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a press conference.
China's 4.5-percent yearly growth in the consumer price index (CPI) in November was mainly driven by food prices, especially soaring pork prices. The growth of pork prices contributed around 60 percent of the CPI hike, Fu said.
The monthly growth of pork prices slowed down in November, thanks to a string of measures introduced by governments at all levels to expand hog production, such as supporting large-scale hog breeding and removing unreasonable restrictions on pig raising.
Fu also noted that the growth in pork imports and the release of pork reserves played an important role in keeping prices stable. Local governments also provided price subsidies to support people living in poverty.
Pork prices are expected to gradually stabilize and even fall as the policies supporting hog production take effect, said Fu.
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