Central government authorities pledged on Tuesday to stabilize agricultural and energy supplies to Hong Kong and Macao this year and meet increased demand in the region during the approaching Spring Festival.

"The demand for agricultural products in Hong Kong and Macao will surge about 20 percent during Spring Festival (which begins on Feb 10), and may face transportation challenges from bad weather. But it's no problem to ensure the supply as long as there is no extremely bad weather," said Jiang Fan, deputy director-general of the Department of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, at a news briefing.

She added that the emergency plan, including transportation, will be used in the event of severe weather. And reserves of agricultural products in the neighboring cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen will make up the supply gap in inland cities.

The Chinese mainland supplies more than 90 percent of vegetables and more than 80 percent of livestock products to the two special administrative regions. In 2012, the value of agricultural products shipped from the mainland to Hong Kong and Macao totaled $6.76 billion, up 14.1 percent year-on-year, while the value of energy products, including water, gas and power, rose 12 percent year-on-year to $1.58 billion, according to the General Administration of Customs.

"Joint research showed that the (farm produce) demand in 2013 will be basically the same as that in 2012," Jiang said.

She agreed that mainland suppliers have received a lot of pressure from price increases since November as cold weather tightened produce supplies, and costs, including labor and feed, kept growing.

"But it requires the farmers and producers to find ways of unleashing their potential," Jiang said, adding that the ministry increased the supply of frozen beef after beef prices surged more than 30 percent year-on-year in 2012 in major suppliers in Beijing, Hebei province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

You Anshan, head of the research center of Hong Kong and Macao affairs under the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said commodity price hikes will probably dent the mainland's supply of farm produce to Hong Kong and Macao.

"But mainland suppliers are still in advantageous positions in prices and costs compared with suppliers in other regions," he said.

He added that the mainland's supply of farm produce and energy products is important to the social and economic stability of Hong Kong and Macao, though their economies are open to other import sources.

The State Council, or China's cabinet, issued more targeted measures on Tuesday to stabilize food prices before the Spring Festival holiday, a peak time for food consumption. Agriculture authorities have been told to play a guiding role in introducing cold-resistance and pest prevention measures to boost vegetable production across the country. Municipal governments in major northern cities are required to draw up contingency plans and release government reserves of vegetables and meat in a timely fashion.

"The mainland's power supply to Hong Kong and Macao is quite optimistic this year as we optimized the power operation system," said Qin Zhijun, deputy director of the power department of the National Energy Administration.

The mainland supplied 11.8 billion kWh of electricity to Hong Kong in 2012, about a fourth of the latter's total consumption, and 3.86 billion kWh of electricity to Macao, almost 90 percent of Macao's consumption, according to the administration.

Meanwhile, the increase in liquefied natural gas output in Shenzhen will ensure steady gas supply to Hong Kong during the holiday, while a branch of the West-East Gas Pipeline is in place to provide more gas to the region.

A pipeline, designed to provide 520 million cubic meters of gas each year, will ensure gas supply to Macao in the next 20 years after construction ends in June.

lijiabao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/30/2013 page14)