It's known as the land of fish and rice, but after more than two weeks of torrential rains that followed a prolonged drought along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, agriculture is reeling. Fears have been raised of price rises against the backdrop of already high inflation.
Four strong storm systems since June 3 have triggered flooding in 13 southern provinces, causing direct economic losses of 35 billion yuan (HK$42.07 billion), mostly in the agriculture industry, according to the National Committee for Disaster Reduction.
Analysts are warning that the price of early and mid-season rice, as well as of some fresh farm produce, could rise further amid prevailing market expectations of reduced output levels.
'Prices of some items have already risen after downpours in some southern provinces - corn and leafy vegetables, for example,' said Ma Wenfeng , an analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants.
Vegetables such as cabbage and lettuce have seen price surges of as much as 40 per cent following the flooding of farmland in the eastern province of Zhejiang, which was among the worst-hit regions during the latest round of deluges late last week, Xinhua reported over the weekend.
The rain hampered the reaping of wheat and oilseed rape, the two seasonal crops in the province, farmers said. 'If wheat is not reaped in time, it germinates. Such wheat cannot even [be used to] feed pigs,' said Zhou Lusong, a farmer in Zhejiang's Haining city .