China improves farm produce cold chain facilities

BEIJING -- China has strengthened the construction of supply chain facilities for farm produce storage, preservation, and cold chain logistics to further stabilize the market of agricultural products, official data showed.

The country has allocated 5 billion yuan (about $764 million) this year to support the construction of the facilities at 16 provincial-level regions, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Some 14,000 such facilities with a total capacity of more than 6 million tonnes are expected to be built or reconstructed by the end of the year. The facilities will develop producers' ability to store and preserve farm produce before selling them at the proper time, said the ministry.

The facilities can effectively reduce post-harvest losses of farm produce and maintain their quality for a long time by keeping the products in a suitable low-temperature environment in the links of storage, processing, distribution and transport.

The ministry will expand the construction to more regions, support more agricultural entities, and cover more products amid efforts to improve the weak links of the farm produce supply chain and the agricultural industry chain.