China says quake losses total $9.5 billion

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Gasoline and diesel also will be shipped in from reserves elsewhere, the commission said.

China's biggest oil company, PetroChina Ltd., said it was sending 16 tank trucks and five mobile fuel tanks to Sichuan to improve ability to distribute supplies.

PetroChina chairman Jiang Jiemin said last week the company was studying the possible impact of the quake on its plans to build a large refinery in Sichuan.

Also Monday, state-owned Agricultural Bank of China, the country's main rural lender, said it expected borrowers to default on 6 billion yuan ($850 million) in loans due to earthquake damage.

Eight damaged PetroChina filling stations near the quake's epicenter have reopened, the company said late Sunday.

The government was shipping extra supplies of rice, pork, soybean oil and other food items to the area to ensure stable supplies and hold down prices, the NDRC said.

The government is "closely watching food prices," the agency said on its Web site.

The quake killed 12.5 million farm animals mostly chickens and wrecked vegetable crops and irrigation systems needed to grow rice, the Agriculture Ministry says.

More than 50,000 acres of vegetables and more than 25,000 acres of wheat were destroyed by the May 12 quake in Sichuan province, the ministry said.

Damage to irrigation systems could prevent farmers from growing rice on as much as 250,000 acres of rice paddies, the ministry said. But it said that land might be used for alternative crops while the damage is repaired.

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