Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 20, 2019 Title: What is the situation of energy and people's livelihood commodities to ensure supply and stable prices during the Spring Festival?
Xinhua News Agency reporters An Bei and Yu Wenjing
With the Spring Festival approaching, what is the supply situation in the energy and people's livelihood commodity markets? The reporter learned from relevant departments on the 20th that at present, the mainland's coal, electricity, oil and gas transportation guarantee is generally stable, and the supply of people's livelihood commodities such as grain, oil, meat, eggs, milk, fruits and vegetables is sufficient and stable, which can effectively guarantee economic development and people's living needs.
The executive meeting of the State Council held recently deployed to further strengthen the guarantee and market supply guarantee for coal, electricity, oil and gas transportation in the next stage, especially during the Spring Festival, from the supply guarantee of coal, electricity, oil and gas transportation, the supply of grain, oil, meat, eggs, milk, fruits and vegetables and other people's livelihood commodities, to deal with uncertain factors such as bad weather and sudden epidemics, and market supervision.
"The work of ensuring energy supply and stabilizing prices has achieved phased results, coal prices have returned to a reasonable range, coal storage in power plants has reached the highest level in the same period of history, power supply has continued to be stable, and natural gas resources have been relatively sufficient." Li Yunqing, director of the Economic Operation Regulation Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, said.
According to reports, as of January 16, the national unified dispatch power plant stored 166 million tons of coal, which can be used for 21 days, which is at the highest level in the same period of history. The people's livelihood gas such as heating in the northern region has been fully and stably supplied, the gas consumption in key areas such as gas power generation and fertilizer production has also been better guaranteed, the price of natural gas in the domestic market is basically stable, far below the global market gas price level, and the price of gas for people's livelihood such as residents' lives remains stable。
Li Yunqing introduced that the National Development and Reform Commission guides coal-producing provinces, autonomous regions and coal production enterprises to maintain normal production, sales and shipment during the Spring Festival, and to do a good job in connecting coal production, transportation and marketing in a timely manner. Multi-channel to enhance the output of new energy power generation。 Promote the full load production of domestic oil and gas fields, and maintain the safety and stability of crude oil, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas imports。 Keep an eye on important periods such as the Spring Festival holiday, the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games, strengthen operation scheduling, ensure stable and orderly energy supply, resolutely adhere to the bottom line of people's livelihood and energy use, and ensure the stable operation of the economy and society。
The domestic epidemic situation is spread at many points, how to ensure the supply of "rice bags" and "vegetable baskets" during the Spring Festival?
The reporter learned from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs that in 2021, the target task of resuming pig production in the mainland was completed half a year ahead of schedule, pork production increased significantly, basically returning to the level of historical normal years, the output of beef and mutton, poultry meat and milk hit a record high, fishery production was stable, aquatic products were sufficient, and the supply of livestock and poultry aquatic products was fully guaranteed. Citrus and other fruits are listed in large quantities, apples, pears and other fruits are abundant, the fruit market is sufficient, there are many varieties, and the price is relatively stable. At present, the national vegetable field area reached about 80 million mu, an increase of more than 2 million mu year-on-year, and it is expected that the total supply of vegetables in the next 3 months will be 170 million tons, an increase of 3.5 million tons year-on-year, plus winter storage vegetables, which can provide about 3 kg of vegetables per person per day. However, due to the rise in gasoline and diesel prices and seasonal factors, it is expected that vegetable prices will be relatively firm.
"Overall judgment, the supply of important people's livelihood commodities during the Spring Festival and the Beijing Winter Olympics has a solid guarantee, and prices will remain stable." Xu Zhengbin, deputy director of the Economic Operation Regulation Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that in 2021, grain output reached a new high, the emergency processing capacity of grain was abundant, and the inventory of refined grain and oil in 36 large and medium-sized cities and areas prone to market fluctuations remained at a high level. Large and medium-sized cities have generally formulated plans to ensure supply and stabilize prices, enriched the reserves of small packages of finished grain and oil, pork, and northern winter and spring vegetables, and some cities have also temporarily increased reserves of eggs and vegetables that are resistant to storage, and some localities have issued temporary price subsidies or one-time subsidies to the people in need according to price changes.
The reporter learned that recently, various localities have actively adopted a variety of measures to ensure that the supply of important people's livelihood commodities is sufficient and the prices are generally stable, and to do a good job in ensuring the basic livelihood of the people in difficulty.
In view of the increase in demand for the Spring Festival and the new year, in order to increase the supply of vegetables and other important people's livelihood commodities in the market, Beijing has comprehensively adopted the "incentive + subsidy" model to encourage large chain supermarkets to increase the scale of procurement; support supply enterprises to organize supply into Beijing through multiple channels, expand commercial inventory, and ensure market supply. From January 1 to 14, 2022, the average daily listing volume of vegetables in the city's seven major wholesale markets increased by more than 20% year-on-year; from November 1, 2021 to March 15, 2022, the transaction fees for the entry of vegetables and vehicles transporting 5 types of domestic fruits from the main agricultural wholesale markets were waived.
Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, to guide the state-owned and collective farmers' market to play a leading role in demonstration, operate normally during the festival, while encouraging private farmers' markets to open for business, the first batch of 172 farmers' markets, 14 brand chain supermarkets, 1480 convenience stores determined to open for business normally during the Spring Festival holiday. The 22 major wholesale markets in Shanghai opened normally during the Spring Festival, and the rate of opening stalls and the retention rate of operators in Shanghai reached more than 80%.
Recently, Tianjin, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and other places have also increased the basic living security for the people in need by issuing one-time price subsidies and implementing preferential supplies for the Spring Festival.
The executive meeting of the State Council requested that we continue to do a good job in planning to deal with uncertain factors such as bad weather and sudden epidemics, guide local governments to ensure the smooth flow of backbone transportation networks while implementing epidemic prevention and control measures, strengthen the supply of living materials, do a good job in fine management of closed areas of the epidemic, pay attention to social forces and community roles, and ensure the smooth distribution of "last kilometer" and "last meter" materials.
Xu Zhengbin said that it is necessary to continue to strengthen the monitoring of the market price, supply, reserves, and the number of green trains for daily necessities such as grain, oil, meat, eggs, vegetables, and fruits in the epidemic areas, and timely grasp the market dynamics and reserves; timely guide the epidemic areas to do a good job in the production and supply, transportation guarantee, reserve transfer, price monitoring and other related work to ensure that the market supply is sufficient and the price runs smoothly. At the same time, we will focus on coordinating relevant departments to facilitate the purchase, transportation, and sales of living goods and assets in epidemic areas, coordinate neighboring provinces and regions to provide support to epidemic areas, and coordinate relevant supply enterprises to increase the protection of living materials in epidemic areas and do a good job in the release of refined grain and oil reserves. (End)