Grain shortage denied

Zeng Liying, deputy director of the State Administration of Grain, said yesterday the country has ample grain supplies and prices will remain stable.

In response to reports there is currently a shortage in some areas, Zeng said these referred only to a few deserted or idle storage facilities, and that in some cases, reserves had been cleared to make room for the new harvests.

Disasters claim 55 lives

Fifty-five people were killed or are missing and 14.42 million were affected by natural disasters in the first four months of the year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday. The disasters also damaged about 1.94 million hectares of farmland and destroyed 18,500 houses. The cost of the damage was 8.83 billion yuan ($1.26 billion).

Weather center opens

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) yesterday opened its public meteorological service center, which will be responsible mostly for providing weather information to the media, offering emergency weather warnings and conducting training for CMA staff.

(China Daily 05/09/2008 page4)