Food storage reform program failed to get approval

In the past week just last week, a plan submitted by the National Development and Reform Commission that focused on reforming grain storage and storage has failed to get final approval from the State Council.

Before the State Council responded to the results, there was a strong rumor in the industry at the end of July that, starting with the acquisition of the autumn grain policy this year, the country will implement subsidy measures on soybeans and rapeseeds that are highly dependent on imports. If the pilot is successful, the policy will gradually It promotes rice and other agricultural products with similar characteristics, such as cotton and sugar. For corn that has received considerable attention in recent years, the official government will use the northeastern maize production area as a pilot to formulate a stable price system for corn.

An expert who had read the plan of grain purchase reform told the Economic Observer on August 8 that before reporting to the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission had solicited opinions on grain storage, grain, etc. in a small area. The name of the document issued at that time was “about We will improve the research on the long-term mechanism for the formation of major agricultural product prices such as grain, which clearly states that the implementation of the grain purchasing policy that focuses on the minimum purchase price and the temporary purchase and storage for many years has seriously distorted the domestic grain market and is now in urgent need of adjustment. At important points, it is imperative to restructure the market-based crop grain interest protection mechanism, explore as soon as possible the implementation of differential subsidies and stable price measures with less distortions in the grain market, and gradually replace the minimum purchase price and the temporary purchase and storage policy.

Specifically how to understand the subsidy, the above-mentioned informed expert is more popular explanation is that the subsidy for difference is that the government pre-determines the target price of food every year, and the farmers follow the market price to follow the market. When the market price is lower than the target price, the state gives subsidies to the farmers according to the difference between the two. Conversely, the government will not start the policy.

China’s current minimum purchase price and temporary purchase and storage policies are price support measures. Cheng Guoqiang, secretary-general of the Academic Committee of the Development Research Center of the State Council, further explained that “the subsidy for price difference has both the characteristics of price support and the nature of direct subsidies. The policies and measures commonly used in the transition from direct price support to direct subsidies."

As for how to formulate a stable price band system, the aforementioned informed experts stated that the state must set the minimum price of grain guarantees at the same time, and also specify the highest intervention price. The lowest price is set to ensure the benefit of grain farmers, and the highest intervention price is to guarantee the stable operation of grain prices in the market.

The Economic Observer News was also informed from many sources that the National Grain Development Reform project submitted by the National Development and Reform Commission failed to obtain the main reasons approved by the State Council. On the one hand, there are too many loopholes in the grain direct subsidies policy and it is difficult for relevant departments to accurately grasp the peasant households in each province. The actual situation of grain production, grain acreage and other areas; on the other hand, there are major corruption cases and fire cases frequently occurring in China's grain stores, which exposes serious problems in the management of grain collection and storage in the country. Problems in the two areas make the grain reform program the last step. Was heavily carded "shell."

<br> <br> reform measures of the National Development and Reform Commission reported grain reform program involves the entire agricultural price stability, but because of food known as "100 base price," saying officials believe food prices on price stability, curbing inflation has a pivotal As a result, when the National Development and Reform Commission is studying and formulating a long-term mechanism for the price of major agricultural products, the most important consideration is to reform the policy of grain collection and storage.

China's implementation of the minimum grain purchase policy was in 2004, and the implementation of the temporary grain purchasing and storage policy was in 2008. That is to say, since the implementation of the policy of collecting and storing grain from the city, the National Development and Reform Commission and other parties have sent out research teams to conduct on-the-spot investigations each year to learn more about the situation of grain collection and storage in various places, and to collect opinions and suggestions from local governments and enterprises on the policy of collecting and storing deposits. In recent years, as several major grain producing areas have exposed issues such as policy-purchasing and storage subjects rushing to grab grain, difficulties in exporting grain, and “circling food” issues, the National Development and Reform Commission and other areas have stepped up investigations while increasing The cleaning up efforts to rectify.

According to reports, in the summer grain purchase in 2010, after the turmoil in Henan and Shandong provinces, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Grain Administration started to plan the reform of the grain feeding policy, and some government research institutions that participated in the reform of the grain feeding policy. Civil organizations also offer advice and suggestions. In the first half of 2011, the National Development and Reform Commission and relevant departments and research institutions have basically reached a relatively unanimous opinion, and we must explore as soon as possible the implementation of systems such as differential subsidies and stable price bands that are less distorted in the grain market in order to gradually replace the current grain reserves. City policy, reconstruct market-based stabilization of grain prices in the market, and protect farmers' interests in grain production.

Specifically how to promote the implementation of the subsidy for price difference and stabilize the price band system, according to experts from Zheng Fengtian, deputy dean of the School of Agriculture and Rural Development of Renmin University of China, and deputy director Li Guoxiang of the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the difference subsidy is supported by grain prices. The transitional measures of direct subsidy transformation have been widely used by developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea in the adjustment of agricultural subsidy policies. This kind of policy is more suitable for piloting rapeseed in the main producing areas such as soybeans in the main producing areas of northeastern China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and then gradually promoting them to such agricultural products as cotton, sugar, and rice.

When Cheng Guoqiang mentioned the reform of the grain feeding policy on different occasions, he also emphasized the importance of implementing the subsidy system, and suggested that corn in the main producing areas of northeastern China should be used as a pilot to study and design a stable corn price system as soon as possible. Among the three major staple foods, the fluctuation of corn prices has been the largest in recent years. Cheng Guoqiang believes that relevant parties should consider economic development, consumers, and the downstream aquaculture industry's ability to bear and corn's cost-benefit and other factors, and reasonably determine the minimum guaranteed price of corn and the highest intervention. price. National regulation should avoid the excessive purchase and storage of corn by policy purchasers, resulting in a reduction of corn grain resources in the market and increasing price fluctuations in the corn market.

The aforementioned informed experts told the Economic Observer that among the grain reform programs completed by the National Development and Reform Commission, it was also clearly stated that it is necessary to actively explore the establishment of a stable price mechanism for important agricultural products and implement measures to stabilize the price of corn pilots; pilot projects for important agricultural products such as soybeans and rapeseed Implement the subsidy policy for difference. In addition, it is recommended to use the main rice production areas as a pilot, and pay close attention to studying the direct special subsidies for rice that are linked to farmers' rice area or the amount of grain for sale. The general subsidy method is either the adoption of subsidy or the minimum purchase price of rice. On the basis of additional subsidies for farmers' subsidies.

The key points mentioned in the grain reform program are that the relevant parties will deduct the farmers’ investment in pesticides, fertilizers, seeds, and land subcontracting costs, as well as manpower based on the total income calculated by the state subsidies and minimum purchase prices obtained by farmers. After planting grain costs, it strives to ensure that grain farmers receive a 20%-30% profit margin.

<br> <br> problem according to the analysis of a number of experts and insiders in grain storage, COFCO Group, completed by the National Development and Reform Commission why the grain reform program in finalizing the link card "shell", mainly based on two reasons First, various types of agricultural subsidies and actual grain acreage and yields issued by the agricultural sector and the grain sector are currently at large. Second, grain reserves are the mainstay of grain policies, and there are still many aspects of grain storage and storage, especially reserves. Manage vulnerabilities.

Li Guoxiang believes that relevant departments should fully apply modern information technologies such as satellite remote sensing before the introduction of the subsidy system, and combine the work of farmers' contracted land registration, rights confirmation, and agricultural census to establish the basic information on agricultural subsidies in major grain-producing areas. "Management System", which includes basic information on the geographical information of land contracting and grain planting areas of various peasant households in the country, so as to be able to accurately identify and determine actual conditions such as the output and planting area of ​​each peasant household, and to carry out various policy subsidies and agriculture for the future. Insurance, grain estimation and other work lay the technical foundation.

As for how to plug up many management loopholes in grain storage and storage as quickly as possible, Zheng Fengtian and other experts said that in recent years, there have been too many corruption cases in grain storage. For example, since 2011, Qiao Jianjun, the head of Grain Reserves in Zhoukou County, Henan province, has been embezzled with hundreds of millions of public funds. In foreign countries, Li Changxuan, general manager of China Grain Reserve Henan Branch, was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery of 14.007 million yuan and 45,000 US dollars, plus a fire that caused a sensation throughout the country in the immediate storage of the grain warehouses in Lindian, Heilongjiang, which all indicated that the management of the grain reserves in China had existed. Serious Problem.

The serious problem that China National Grain Reserves was investigated and dealt with by the Audit Commission in May of this year was that in 2011, the Ministry of Finance of China National Grain Reserves Corporation opened a regular deposit certificate with 13 commercial banks, including Beijing Rural Commercial Bank, without internal approval. The accumulative fund was 8.44 billion yuan; The head office and some of its subordinate units also have some problems in the central reserve grain and oil management, project management, investment decisions and accounting.

Experts such as Zheng Fengtian stated that the biggest problem in China's grain storage and other food reserve agencies is that its grain reserves and business operations are the same. In recent years, the rapid growth of China's grain reserves in grain and oil processing and trade has caused extreme panic among other grain and oil processing companies. Because China's grain reserves rely on the state's fiscal funds to receive grain and sit on the national grain warehouse, if it continues to expand its grain and oil processing trade business, it will seriously disrupt the grain and oil processing market.

Zheng Fengtian believes that the main function of grain storage in the national orientation is to complete the country's grain macro-control tasks, "maintain the interests of farmers, maintain the stability of the grain market, and safeguard national food security." China’s grain reserves should return to its standard as soon as possible. “The state has no shortage of the money earned by China’s grain reserves by monopolizing the development of grain resources.”