Implement the corn harvest and storage policy for 8 years to further loosen the price reform and propose "reform"

On October 15, the official release of the "opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on promoting the Reform of the Price Mechanism" (hereinafter referred to as "opinions"), speeding up the improvement of the price mechanism mainly determined by the market. The "opinion" points out that the price mechanism is the core of the market mechanism, and the market determining price is the key for the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources.

In the field of agricultural products, it is necessary to "improve the price formation mechanism" and "pay attention to the role of the market in forming prices, and the prices of agricultural products are mainly determined by the market."

Corn, which began to implement the temporary collection and storage policy in 2008, experienced the reduction of collection and storage prices in September this year, and now the "opinions" stipulate that "reform and improve the corn collection and storage system". This is regarded as corn, which is still included in grain statistics, has stood on the tuyere of the temporary storage policy adjustment queue.

Corn that joins the queue of temporary storage policy adjustment

At the beginning of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice saying that the purchase price of tobacco leaves should be liberalized. As the purchase price of tobacco is the last variety to be set by the government in the field of agricultural products, this means that the national price reform of agricultural products began in 1978. After 38 years, the government pricing of agricultural products in China has completely withdrawn from the historical stage.

At present, the government mainly guides the reasonable formation of prices by means of minimum purchase price and target price, protects the interests of agricultural producers, ensures national food security, and promotes the sustained and healthy development of agricultural industry chain.

The "opinion" mentions that the policy of minimum purchase price for rice and wheat will continue to be implemented and improved. However, the temporary collection and storage policy of corn, which is still included in grain statistics, has become "reforming and improving the corn collection and storage system". The move is seen as a further loosening of the corn harvest and storage system.

The reduction in corn harvest and storage prices in September has already meant a policy adjustment. Although the official notice continued to implement the temporary corn collection and storage policy in the three northeastern provinces and Inner Mongolia in 2015, the purchase price of temporary storage corn has been lowered to 1 yuan per catty (the third-class quality standard of the national standard). Compared with the highest level of 1.13 yuan per jin in Inner Mongolia and Liaoning in 2014, it has been reduced by 11.5%.

The minimum purchase price policy has been implemented for 11 years since 2004. The motivation for implementing this policy stems from the bumper harvest of grain production in successive years, and grain prices are facing greater downward pressure. in order to avoid repeating the old road of "cheap grain and hurting farmers", the state decided to implement the policy plan of minimum purchase price. Since 2004 and 2006, the minimum purchase price system has been implemented for rice and wheat in the main producing areas. As for the temporary collection and deposit policy, it has been "temporary" for eight years this year. Since 2008, corn, soybeans, rapeseed and sugar have also begun to implement temporary storage policies. In 2011, a temporary cotton collection and storage system was established.

These two systems were established under the background that the price of domestic agricultural products was lower than the international price at that time. According to the industry, at present, there are great limitations in terms of concept and operation. The price formation mechanism of agricultural products is distorted and the role of the market has not been brought into full play. The price support policy with these two policies as the core has been implemented for many years, and all parties in the market have become more and more dependent on the path of the policy. since the start of temporary collection and storage, the price of collection and storage has shown a steady upward trend, and the expectation of "only rising but not falling" has increased. The grain market shows a "policy" trend.

Take corn as an example, its collection and storage price has risen from 1500 yuan / ton in 2008 to 2200 yuan / ton in 2014. If we continue to implement the policy of market support and acquisition, corn stocks will remain high, which will not only bring pressure on storage capacity, but also bring a serious burden on finance.

In addition, the prices of agricultural products at home and abroad are upside down, and the import pressure is increasing day by day. Since the implementation of these two policies, the prices of major domestic agricultural products such as rice, wheat, corn, soybeans and cotton have been close to or higher than the international market prices. If domestic prices continue to rise in the future, domestic and foreign prices are likely to expand further. Some agricultural products, such as corn, cotton and sugar, have formed an unfavorable situation of "increasing domestic production-increasing national reserves-increasing imports-increasing domestic reserves". The implementation of this policy not only increases the financial burden, but also affects the effect of policy implementation.

Tentative phased policy reform and adjustment

If it is said that the implementation of the policy in the past has the background of the times and the original intention, then the policy that brought about the "eleventh consecutive increase" of China's total grain output is now gradually showing a series of new problems and contradictions, especially under the new situation of important changes in the domestic and foreign environment, the existing support policies are facing more and more severe challenges.

As mentioned in the "opinion", "highlight the key points, keep and release", based on China's national conditions, implement differential support policies for different varieties. The breakthrough in the reform of the temporary collection and storage policy of corn shows the will of the government to ensure food security and the state to protect the staple grain.

There is no doubt that rice and wheat are traditional rations. However, although corn is still included in the statistical caliber of food rations, it has a long industrial chain and can also be used for feed and industrial processing in addition to food. With the progress of urbanization, residents' demand for meat is increasing, and the role of corn industry grain is becoming more and more obvious.

Since the government decided to pilot the target price reform of cotton and soybeans in some areas in 2014, the temporary collection and storage policy of rapeseed has begun to shift this year, and now corn has joined the ranks. Considering that the market has formed the path dependence of policy, if it is no longer implemented, it may cause market unrest. Industry insiders say that the replacement of this kind of policy in China is unlikely to be rapid, but is more likely to be a tentative and phased follow-up, so consideration should be given to lowering the price of temporary storage and lowering market expectations.

The "opinion" mentioned that we should continue to carry out the pilot project of reforming the target prices of cotton and soybeans and improve the methods for the distribution of subsidies.

The so-called target price subsidy means that the government determines the target price of agricultural products in advance. When the actual market price of the agricultural product is lower than the target price, the government subsidizes the agricultural product producers according to the difference between the two prices to ensure their basic income; if the actual market price of the agricultural product is higher than the target price, there is no need to start the target price subsidy policy.

This policy, which has been implemented for more than a year, has decoupled the price of agricultural products from government subsidies. In terms of policy operation, since it can arouse farmers' enthusiasm for production and effectively protect the basic income of producers, it can also play an important role in regulating the supply and demand of agricultural products, reduce market distortions, curb the momentum of over-development of agricultural resources, mobilize the enthusiasm of all kinds of market entities, and reduce the pressure of government collection and storage. Therefore, it has been recognized by many parties, and it is also regarded as the basic direction of the adjustment of agricultural products support subsidy policy in our country in the future.

The clues can also be seen from documents previously released by the Ministry of Agriculture. In a document entitled "Summary of the reply to recommendation No. 1480 of the third session of the 12th National people's Congress" published by the Ministry of Agriculture, it is clearly pointed out that for varieties such as corn, soybeans, cotton, rapeseed and other varieties with large demand elasticity, long industrial chain and high degree of connection between domestic and foreign markets, we should pay attention to giving play to the decisive role of the market in forming prices, guide production through market price signals, regulate supply and demand, and promote the sustained and healthy development of the industry. This means that, in addition to cotton and soybeans that have been piloted, the prices of corn and rapeseed will also bid farewell to the temporary storage policy and move towards a pattern in which prices are determined by the market.