Beijing, May 18 - China plans to boost state reserves of sugar and to increase edible oil refining capacity under a light industry revitalisation plan announced by the State Council, China's cabinet, on Monday.
To ensure supplies of edible oils, the government will allow an additional 1 million tonnes of capacity for refining rapeseed oil, 1 million tonnes of capacity for refining peanut oil and 0.5 million tonnes of cottonseed oil refining capacity. The plan covers the years until 2011.
China is the world's largest edible oil consumer. Its staple edible oil is soyoil provided by a soy crushing industry with capacity to crush more than 70 million tonnes of soy a year. It also imports palmoil.
Beijing has been stockpiling agricultural products ranging from grains to cotton to help shore up prices and farmers' incomes. It has already completed the purchase of 800,000 tonnes of white sugar for state reserves, the goal for the marketing year which ends in September. [ID:nPEK356967].
Under the light industry plan, Beijing will also encourage local governments to subsidise interest on loans to help producers of paper and pulp and apple juice concentrate to stockpile their products to help ease stocks amid sluggish sales.
The government will raise export tax rebates on some products and allow the processing trade of some products which are not energy-intensive and high-polluting, according to the plan published on the central governemnt web site (www.gov.cn).
It did not elaborate on which products would be affected. Exports of light industry products covering food, home appliances, bicycles and furniture accounted for 21.7 percent of the country's total exports in 2008.
After reports of a series of food scandals, the government's light industry plan will set up a system for withdrawing food suspected of being unsafe and will strengthen its food safety monitoring system. It will also raise the standards for the food industry, including dairy, meat, grains and edible oil producers.