'Food will cost more' due to US drought_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

'Food will cost more' due to US drought

The price of imported soybeans rose from 4,350 yuan ($685) per metric ton in April to 4,700 yuan in August.

"The global soybean price rise is unlikely to end until we find out more about the South American planting in November," he said.

China imported 34.92 million tons of soybean in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 20.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the General Administration of Customs.

China imported 52.64 million tons of soybeans in 2011. Agricultural specialists forecast that imports in 2017 will range between 55 million and 57 million tons.

Huang said that domestic soybean production will be around 9.8 million tons this year, against 10 million tons in 2011.

The rise in the price of soybean is not an isolated event. It will also push up the price of cooking oil and increase feed costs for pig farmers.

Consequently, pork prices might rise in the fourth quarter as could the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, Huang said.

Questions:

1. What is expected to cause price hikes in pork and cooking oil?

2. How much of China’s soybean supplies are imported?

3. How about corn?

Answers:

1. Drought in the US.

2. 80%.

3. 5%.

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.