China's winter storms - impact on horticulture

You may have seen stories on headline news or the Drudgereport about the winter storm and transportation problems in China, and here is a Jan. 30 report from the USDA FAS about the situation there:

China experienced its worse winter storms in 40 years. The natural disaster took claim of roads, railways and lack of access disrupted supply distribution channels in cities and villages in remote areas. Weather damaged or destroyed crops and transportation delays have resulted in food shortages on store shelves and price increases of over 100 percent in some of the 12 Southern Chinese provinces hit by the storm. The storms paralyzed transportation in highways and railways and with frozen power grids in some parts of Southern China some communities have no access to electricity. According to several media outlets, the damage toll is at $5 billion. Additionally, with more than ½ million travelers stranded in Southern China, local and provincial governments have stepped up disaster relief. Food prices for most goods have witnessed a slight increase with the fruit and vegetable sector expected to react immediately with higher prices. Short grain supplies and animal diseases have driven up food prices over the last year although the federal authorities have implemented specific price controls for staple goods. Consumers expect seasonally inflated prices with Chinese New Year nly a couple of days away.

Citrus While it’s still too early to accurately estimate the impact of the storms on China’s citrus, AgBeijing contacts report that some young citrus trees in Jianxi province died from the cold. The upside is they are not yet fruit bearing trees so it shouldn’t impact yearly production in the short run. Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, and Chongqing are all being hit by the storm and are anticipating damage to mature orange and mandarin trees. According to contacts, Jianx iis estimating a 10-15 percent decrease in China’s MY 2008/09 citrus production as a result of the storms. Jianxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Guangdong provinces, as well as Chongqing Municipality are China’s major citrus producing areas.

Vegetables The State Council recently held a press conference on agricultural and rural policies. Chen Xiwen, Head of the Central Government’s Leadership Panel on Rural Work addressed the media on the impact of the recent snow disaster in Southern China on grain crops. Many cross winter crops are in Southern China and the impact of the snow on winter crop production is very serious, especially for fresh vegetables. The great concern for winter vegetables is transportation. In Liaoning province, an estimated 500,000 tons of vegetables will rot before they can reach consumers. The same is true in the southern provinces, where most of China’s vegetables are produced.

Tree Fruit and Stone Fruit The recent snow eased the spring drought in most northern provinces. Liaoning, the largest stone fruit producing province located in Northeast China received 36 millimeters of precipitation in Shenyang city, 56 mm in Dalian city, and 78 mm in the worst-hit city of Anshan, providing 6 billion cubic meters of water to the province. The snowfall brought Liaoning province the equivalent to six reservoirs of water “a godsend to the arid farmland,” said Provincial Meteorological Bureau Zhang Lixiang. On the other hand, however, the provincial agricultural department reported the storm destroyed the equivalent of 10,000 hectares of indoor grain, vegetable and fruit and cost Liaoning province at least $12.8 million in losses of revenue.