Panic As Snow Endangers China's Crops

~~[b]~~Panic As Snow Endangers China's Crops[/b]

(AP) A top agriculture official warned Thursday that snow battering central China has dealt an "extremely serious" blow to winter crops, raising the likelihood of future shortages driving already surging inflation.

Regions hit by the worst winter storms in 50 years provide the bulk of China's winter fruit and vegetable production, Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Communist Party's leading financial team, told reporters.

The full magnitude of the losses was unclear and much depended on the weather, he said.

"The impact of the snow disaster in southern China on winter crop production is extremely serious," Chen said. "The impact on fresh vegetables and on fruit in some places has been catastrophic."

Separately, the government plans to provide $13.8 million; in subsidies to revive production of crops, livestock and poultry, said Wang Shoucong, deputy chief of the Agriculture Ministry's planting management department.

Two weeks of near continuous snow and ice storms have paralyzed much of central and eastern China, stopping traffic, wrecking crops and killing dozens in road accidents and collapsed buildings.

Chen said the overall effect on agriculture depended on how long the storms lasted and whether they moved into northern China, which produces most of the country's wheat and oil crops.