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Korea and Japan have bad summer
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/08/22 17:20  Shanghai Daily

  While Europe swelters through one of its hottest spells on record, much of East Asia is suffering just the opposite - an unusually cool and cloudy summer that has ruined vacations and prompted experts to predict some of the worst harvests of rice and vegetables in decades.

  Persistent clouds and showers in Japan have driven up the price of produce by as much as 120 percent, along with cutting into sales of such hot-weather staples as beer and air conditioners.

  Bad weather in South Korea, meanwhile, is expected to translate into a haul of low-quality fruits and vegetables.

  "It's all a bit difficult to sum up," said Yosuke Nakaya, a spokesman for Japan's Central Meteorological Agency. "It's a rather abnormal summer."

  In a typical year, a few weeks of rain throughout most of Japan are followed by generally sunny and stiflingly muggy days in late July and August. This year, however, the number of cloudy or rainy days has been unusually high.

  Bombarded by complaints about inaccurate forecasts this summer, Japan's weather agency maintains there is still a 50-50 chance it could turn out to be a normal one.

  But for many farmers and vacationers - and the many businesses that profit off them - that's little consolation.

  "It's been a difficult summer," said Mikako Izumizaki, a spokeswoman for Asahi Breweries, Japan's biggest beer producer. "We're running short on time."

  Izumizaki said July sales were off by 18 percent from a year earlier, and noted that August is when beer sales normally spike.

  In Kobe, a port city in western Japan, prices of lettuce and potatoes have shot up 120 percent, according to spokeswoman Miho Kakimoto at Coop Kobe, an agricultural wholesaler.

  South Korea is facing similar problems.

  The country has been awash in 140 percent the average level of rainfall for this time of year with only 70 percent the amount of sunshine, said Kim Jong-koon, a weather expert at the government's Korea Meteorological Administration.

  The harvest of chili peppers, a key Korean vegetable, is expected to fall by 5 percent due to the bad weather, according to the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry. And fruit is ripening slower than usual, creating a shortage of quality produce, said ministry official Lee Young-shik.

  The prospects could put a damper on the upcoming Chusok Full Moon Festival, when Korean families stock up on apples and pears, as the lunar calendar-based holiday comes a little earlier than usual on September 10-12.

  Rice, an important crop in both countries, will soon enter a critical growing period that will determine the size of this year's harvest and officials are praying for a turnaround.




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