China is taking more emergency
measures to deal with inflation. Measures will be taken to stabilize food prices before the
upcoming autumn holiday and National Day, Xinhua reported. The use of corn for biofuel production will be subject to more controls, to ensure grain supplies. China has capped the proportion of corn for industrial use at 26% until 2010, Xinhua reported. "Our land has already been worn out to feed 1.3 billion people," said Zhai Huqu, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, warning that reliance on the mass consumption of corn for energy would also lead to environmental problems. Other
measures: the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other ministries will encourage pig breeding to renew the pork supply; poor city dwellers will get a 15 yuan food subsidy during the holidays, as well as a 10-yuan monthly increase in subsidy; and measures are being taken to stabilize prices as university cafeterias and for students overall. In addition, import duties on soy beans, used for cooking oil, will be cut from 1% to 3%. China is also considering steps to curb steel exports, including putting restrictions on steel projects in the processing sector. Export rebates for many steel
products had been lowered to zero, while tariffs for some steel products have risen to 15%.