CHINA, the world's biggest grain consumer, will cut rail costs to ship cereals from its main northeast production region, seeking to ease rising food costs that have driven the inflation rate to a 10-year high, Bloomberg News reported.
The surcharge on grain shipments under the so-called rail construction fund will be fixed at 18 yuan (US$2.40) per metric ton, replacing the current method which increases costs based on distances shipped, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its Website yesterday.
China last week said it would cut soybean import duties and sell some of its pork, vegetable oil and grain stockpiles to ensure supplies during two weeks of celebrations that started this week. Consumer prices rose to a decade-high 6.5 percent in August, with 92.3 percent of that increase attributable to food costs, the commission said.
"This helps make our soybeans, corn and rice more competitive to shipments from overseas," said Li Shouchun, a manager at Datong Futures Co, in Harbin City, northeastern Heilongjiang Province.