FACTBOX-Measures to curb Asia's spiraling food prices

(Reuters) - Governments across Asia have introduced subsidies and have limited sales of staple commodities such as rice, wheat, pork and cooking oil to combat soaring food prices that are pinching consumers at the tills.

The following is a list of recent moves:

CHINA:

-- Prices of pork more than doubled over the year to November 2007, after an outbreak of blue-ear disease among pigs devastated China's pig industry.

-- On Dec 19. the government promised to double subsidies to pig farmers, from 50 to 100 yuan per sow, and said it would sell pork from state reserves to meet demand for the staple meat.

-- Beijing announced this month it was temporarily controlling prices of flour, rice, noodles, cooking oil and milk, after global prices surged. Producers and sellers of these items need official permission to raise prices.

BANGLADESH:

-- Rice prices have doubled over the past year, as millions of tonnes of rice were wiped out by a massive cyclone in November and floods in July-September that killed more than 1,000 people.

-- On Jan 9. the government started selling cut-price rice, allowing each family to pay 40 percent less than the open market price. Nearly 16 million poor people are slated to receive free rice and wheat, and the government wants to import additional rice from neighbors.

INDONESIA:

-- The import duty on rice was cut by 18 percent on December 28, helping main state importer Bulog offset higher world prices.

-- Jakarta imports nearly 70 percent of its soybean, which is processed into tofu and soy sauce. On January 16 the government asked Bulog to look for cheaper soybean imports, as prices in its main exporter the United States have surged 80 percent on the Chicago Board of Trade in 2007.

-- On January 9 the government scrapped a 10 percent import duty on soybean to offset soaring prices.

-- Officials will also distribute free soybean seedlings to farmers and revive soybean producing-areas to boost domestic output and reduce dependence on imports.

PAKISTAN:

-- Prices of wheat flour used to make roti or unleavened bread, the main component of the Pakistani diet, increased 30 percent in December from a few months earlier.

-- A ban on wheat exports, which had been lifted in January 2007, was reimposed in May after a surge in domestic prices.

-- Officials blame the short supply of wheat on hoarders and smugglers who deplete stocks to cash in on high prices abroad.

-- The government buys wheat in bulk at the time of harvesting, and then releases stocks to flour mills according to a quota. On January 14 it said it has started channeling about 11,000 tonnes of extra flour to mills.

MALAYSIA:

-- Rumors of an impending price hike for cooking oil sparked hoarding and panic buying in December, depleting stocks.

-- On January 6 Malaysia started limiting the amount of cooking oil consumers can purchase to 5 kg (11 lbs), and banned visitors from taking cooking oil out of the country.

-- A similar ban on other staples such as sugar, and flour, is being considered, and on January 7 the government said it was increasing supply of subsidized cooking oil to the market.

(Writing by Shahida Patail, Singapore Editorial Reference Unit)