DOMESTIC grain prices have remained stable amid hikes in international prices, official figures show.

Wheat prices on the Chicago Board of Trade surged more than 140 percent in March, while rice prices jumped more than 80 percent.

Average grain retail prices on the Chinese domestic market, by contrast, registered slight growth, from 4.14 yuan (59 cents) per kilogram from the beginning of January to 4.19 yuan by the end of March, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

The government’s efforts to ensure food supply in the country, including restrictions on grain-consuming bio-ethanol projects, were behind the stable prices, analysts said.

The Central Government has vowed to spend more than 562 billion yuan (US$80.4 billion) this year to support farms and the rural sector, 130.7 billion yuan more than last year.

The authorities also decided in March to spend an additional 25.25 billion yuan, mainly to subsidize farmers’ purchases of seed, diesel, fertilizers and other production materials.

Similarly, the Ministry of Railways last month ordered railway authorities in the northeast provinces to improve efficiency and send 10 million tons of grains out of the grain-rich region to the south from May 1 to June 30, in a bid to ease supply imbalances and stem price rises.(SD-Agencies)