30,000 metric tons of pork released from reserves

To meet surging consumer demand as the Spring Festival holiday approaches, authorities on Thursday released 30,000 metric tons of pork from the nation's central reserves to increase the meat supply.

Due to the increase in demand prompted by the seasonal surge of consumption, the average pork price in 36 major cities of China had risen by 3.2 percent as of Wednesday compared to the beginning of this year.

A total of 150,000 tons of reserve pork have been released into the market nationwide since Dec 17 to ensure the supply for both the New Year and Spring Festival holidays, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Thursday.

As a result, the average price of meat on Wednesday dropped by 4.6 percent compared to the same time last year.

The release of local pork reserves in some regions was also welcomed by consumers, the commission said.

The commission will work with other departments to supply more frozen pork from central reserves around the Spring Festival holiday and guide local authorities to increase pork reserve releases, it said.

Weather system aims to be world-class by 2035

This year, China will start conducting research and development on next-generation weather radar and smart ground observation stations, upgrade warning systems for floods, geological disasters and typhoons and explore customized online meteorological services.

The goal is to improve the country's meteorological capabilities to a world-class level by 2035, Zhuang Guotai, head of the China Meteorological Administration, said at a national conference on Jan 19.

Over the past five years, China has raised its level of meteorological modernization by setting up an integrated observation system consisting of around 70,000 ground observation stations, 216 radars and seven satellites.

The system now covers all county-level regions in the country.

Steady progress has been made on meteorological forecasting and information gathering, with new technologies such as the internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence widely adopted.

As a result, advances in meteorology over this period have improved the quality of weather forecasts, reducing the number of casualties brought by disasters in the past five years, according to the administration.