China: typhoon reduces Shanghai vegetable supplies

Though the city's worst storm in years was well to the north, Shanghai's farmers and consumers were feeling the pinch from Typhoon Matsa in the form of lost profits and higher food prices, agricultural authorities said yesterday.

Seventy percent of the city's 33,333 hectares of vegetable fields were flooded along with 4,000 hectares of watermelon land, and high winds whipped fruit from the trees across more than 8,000 hectares of orchards, according to the Shanghai Agricultural Commission.

The commission is still calculating the economic losses from the weekend storm, but early insurance claims alone amounted to 35 million yuan (US$4.3 million) yesterday.

"Suburban districts in the south, including Jinshan, Nanhui and Fengxian, all suffered huge losses from the typhoon," said Zhu Zhiliang, a commission spokesman. "Shelters covering vegetables were blown off, and fruit - ripe or not - dropped from the trees."

Matsa's destruction put many vegetables, especially the green-leaf variety, in short supply at city wholesale markets yesterday. The price of most vegetables rose 20 to 50 percent, and some even doubled. The wholesale price of green Chinese cabbage at Beicai Agricultural Product Market, for instance, rose to 2.7 yuan a kilogram from the pre-typhoon price of 1.2 yuan.

Commission Director Yuan Yixing ordered food companies to look outside Shanghai for new supply and directed district governments to step in with subsidies and other help for farmers.

Li Bocai, director of the Fengxian District Agricultural Commission, said some 3 million yuan will be appropriated to aid crop growers. District government will help farmers drain their land and repair damaged facilities.

"Green-leaf vegetables will be in short supply for some time yet," Yuan said. "If the weather turns good, the supply will become stable in one to two weeks." The price of fruit will also rise, officials said.

Shan Chuanlun, director of the Malu Grape Research Institute in Jiading District, said more than 13 acres of grapes were flooded and much of the plastic that had covered the vines was blown away.

He estimated that at least 15,000 kilograms of grapes valued at more than 500,000 yuan were destroyed at the institute. The loss throughout Jiading - the city's grape-producing heartland - may run as high as 15 million yuan.

"The disaster may even affect grape growth next year because a number of seedlings were flooded out," said Shan. "The price will go up a little, but we will control it."

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