bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Danny Mok

Supplies of mainland flour have  returned to Hong Kong  after authorities across the border lifted an export ban.
Supplies of bakery products and noodles had been threatened after the mainland temporarily suspended flour exports under a new trading regime last week.
A spokeswoman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said  the central government, including the Ministry of Commerce, had agreed to resume flour supplies to the city after close contacts with the Hong Kong government.
A Hong Kong government source said the first stocks of flour  had reached the city yesterday following lifting of the ban.
The South China Morning Post reported on Friday that mainland customs officials had frozen flour exports last Tuesday until details of new quotas became available, in an attempt to stabilise domestic supplies.
The new trading regime restricted the amount of flour  to be sold to Hong Kong and other markets and levied export tariffs on wheat flour, corn flour and rice flour.  Hong Kong gets  75 per cent of its flour from the mainland.
Hong Kong Food Council member Lee Kwong-lam,  who runs the flour wholesale business Tung Tai Hong, said the lifting of the suspension was good news.
But he said he expected to see a 30 to 40 per cent increase in prices, after a tax of 5  to 25 per cent on 57 types of grain products, including flour, was imposed by the Ministry of Finance under the new policy.
Mr Lee said prices, including wholesale rates, would probably surge.  'We can't afford to lose. The price will just go up, with no return.'
He said the price for a 25kg bag of flour would rise by about HK$30 from  the usual rate of around HK$70.



‘A big deal’: the military drills showing Tokyo’s growing focus on deterring China

Move over, Hercules: China’s new Y-30 aims to outmuscle America’s best transport aircraft

Is China about to launch a rocket from South China Sea international waters?

Can a ‘community with a shared future’ prevail over zero-sum rivalry?

South China Sea

Mainland flour supplies return to  HK after authorities lift suspension