Harvests allay food inflation concern

 Harvests allay¹ food inflation concern

CHANGCHUN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Spikes² in food prices could be devastating³ as it may force policy makers⁴ to reverse actions being used to stimulate⁵ China's weakest growth in three years.

Soaring overseas grain prices and disasters in China's corn belt fed into such worries during the last three months. However, overseas prices have retreated with China expecting a bumper⁶ harvest.

A senior agricultural official in Jilin, the country's No. 1 corn-producing province, said pest outbreaks and a strong typhoon in August has caused limited damage, with farmers expecting to harvest more this year.

"There has not been a big impact on corn harvesting," said Ren Kejun, director with the Jilin provincial⁷ agriculture committee. Corn production is still set to reach a historic high because pest outbreaks have not spread and corn acreage grew by 275,000 hectares, he said.

In summer, China's wheat production grew 3 percent from a year earlier, with weather conditions good for growing winter wheat.

China is self-sufficient when it comes to wheat production and it produces 95 percent of the corn that is consumed. The increase in harvest means an adequate supply for the domestic market.

The pressure of imported inflation lulled⁸ too. Global grain prices climbed to record high in August after a worst-in-decades drought battered⁹ the U.S. Midwest. Prices took a dive in September as American farmers' harvest soothed¹⁰ concerns of a supply shortage.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said corn harvest was more than half complete by September 30, and the soybean harvest was 41 percent finished, much faster than normal pace.

In addition to supply recovery, high prices also cooled industrial and overseas demand for U.S. crops, bringing down trading prices in the world's biggest grain producer and exporter.

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures¹¹ for December delivery slipped 0.5 cents Tuesday to settle at 7.415 U.S. dollars a bushel, down 10.7 percent from a historic high in August.

Chicago soybean for November delivery, pressured by higher than expected production, dipped over 10 percent in September, and hit a three-month low last Wednesday.

Declines in soybean prices will help to tame inflationary pressures in China, which has over 80 percent of its domestic soybean demand being relied on by imports.

"Overall, prices have reached stabilization¹² in the short-term," said Ryland Maltsbarger, director with IHS Agriculture Services. He predicted that the South American crop output should weaken prices further at the end of 2012 unless weather conditions deteriorate¹³.

Chris Narayanan, head of agricultural commodities research at Societe Generale, agreed, He said the market will remain bearish¹⁴, as long as there is strong production in South America.

Analysts¹⁵ also predict that the U.S. Federal Reserve's QE3, though creating downward pressures on U.S. dollars, is not going to raise dollar-traded commodity prices.

"The weakness in Europe as well as slowing growth in China has negated¹⁶ this impact so far," Maltsbarger said.

Echoing the overseas grain price slump¹⁷, a report from the Bank of Communications said food prices in China remained stable in September. It estimated the country's inflation gauge¹⁸ -- Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth -- fell to 1.8 percent in September and will stay low for the rest of 2012.

The low-inflation forecast gives China more leeway to join in global financial loosening, especially as the Chinese economy missed expectations of recovery in the third quarter.

China's central bank Tuesday pumped a record 265 billion yuan (42.1 billion U.S. dollars) into the financial market, suggesting that the government is beefing up measures to stimulate the world's second-largest economy.

1 allay   

v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等)

参考例句：

• The police tried to allay her fears but failed.警察力图减轻她的恐惧，但是没有收到什么效果。
• They are trying to allay public fears about the spread of the disease.他们正竭力减轻公众对这种疾病传播的恐惧。

2 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

6 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

7 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

8 lulled   

vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They lulled her into a false sense of security. 他们哄骗她，使她产生一种虚假的安全感。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The movement of the train lulled me to sleep. 火车轻微的震动催我进入梦乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

10 soothed   

v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦

参考例句：

• The music soothed her for a while. 音乐让她稍微安静了一会儿。
• The soft modulation of her voice soothed the infant. 她柔和的声调使婴儿安静了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

12 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

13 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

14 bearish   

adj.(行情)看跌的，卖空的

参考例句：

• It is foolish not to invest in stocks,so I will show her how to be bearish without them too,if she chooses.不投资股票是愚蠢的，因此如果她选择股票，我会向她展示怎样在没有长期潜力的情况下进行卖空。
• I think a bearish market must be a good time for bargain-hunters to invest.我觉得熊市对于想买低的人可是个投资的大好机会。

15 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

16 negated   

v.取消( negate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；否定；否认

参考例句：

• Our historical right to rule ourselves as a people had been negated. 我们被剥夺了作为一个民族治理自己国家的历史权利。 来自辞典例句
• Thus far we have negated frictional effects in the harmonic oscillator. 到现在为止，我们一直没有考虑谐和振荡器中的摩擦效应。 来自辞典例句

17 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

18 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。