Ministries respond to issues

Several ministry-level departments, including those for finance, market regulation, and housing and urban-rural development, have responded recently to issues of public concern.

China will improve the supply chain of agricultural products in a bid to increase farmers' income, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on May 14.

The central government will allocate a two-year fund of 200 million yuan ($28.9 million) to each provincial-level region that gets its respective plan approved, the ministry said.

The fund will be used to improve the weak links and key areas in the agricultural product supply chain, the statement said. It added that more support will be extended to building farm produce processing facilities and developing coldchain logistics.

The standardization and branding of produce that are local specialties will be further promoted, the authority said.

The ministry also called for local authorities to conduct strict supervision over the use of the funds, with third-party agencies set to be assigned to evaluate the progress and results.

The State Administration for Market Regulation unveiled a new regulation for imported medicinal materials on Friday to ensure the quality of products.

The new regulation, to be enacted in 2020, has come up with stricter standards for imported materials and enhanced the management of import sources, according to a notice released by the administration.

In order to encourage drug imports, the new regulation has canceled items from the previous regulation that restricted the areas where the materials can be imported.

It also stipulates that the imported materials must fit into national standards or the standards at provincial levels.

In order to further reform to streamline administration, the authority of import approval has been delegated to the provincial drug administration departments, the authority said.

The new regulation also required that the imported medicinal materials could only be put on sale after going through the quarantine process at ports, and importers must ask for relevant materials from their suppliers during the purchasing process.

China will cut electricity costs for industrial and commercial users to further ease business burdens, the National Development and Reform Commission announced on Wednesday.

The NDRC said in a notice that the fees for funding major hydropower projects will be reduced by 50 percent to lower electricity costs.

The country will also encourage industrial and commercial users to participate in spot-price trading of electricity to further lower prices, the commission said.

The new measures, which will take effect on July 1, came as the central government pledged in March that the average electricity price for general industrial and commercial businesses will be cut by another 10 percent to reduce burdens on the real economy.

China will further standardize the development of public rental houses to solve the housing problems for low-and middle-income families in urban areas, according to a guideline released on Friday.

The guideline, jointly released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and another three departments, called for cities with a large population inflow to increase their supply of public rental houses to meet growing demand.

Local authorities should conduct a thorough investigation into the housing situation of families receiving subsistence allowances and make sure that their housing demand could be met, the guideline said.

Based on the capacities of their fiscal income, local authorities should prioritize efforts to meet the housing demand of workers from public service sectors and key industries, it said. The supply of rental houses in the form of dormitories will also be increased for development.