Corn price depends on market or policy.

The price of corn temporarily collected and stored by the state has been set at 1 yuan per jin this year, which is at most 1.2 cents lower than that of last year, and this is the first reduction since the corn temporary storage policy was implemented in 2007. This subtle change sends a signal to the market: the temporary collection and storage policy of supporting the bottom at high prices has reached a crossroads, when the domestic and foreign price differences are getting bigger and bigger, the domestic corn stocks are getting higher and higher, and the market reverse pressure mechanism is getting stronger and stronger. should corn prices depend on the face of the policy or listen to the call of the market?

Policy intervention cannot be completely in tune with the market

Wang Wuhou, a major corn grower in Northeast China, heard as early as last month that the temporary collection and storage price of corn might be reduced, so he decisively decided to keep the corn first harvested in early September for his farm and not to sell it.

Wang Wuhou: we don't sell our corn after harvest. We have a sheep farm and a cattle farm, so we save it for cattle and sheep as feed.

Wang Wuhou is no longer waiting for the grain depot to collect and store, but to find his own way out, which precisely illustrates the embarrassment of the corn temporary storage policy: policy intervention can not be fully in tune with the market. The corn storage policy in the eighth year needs a lot of reflection.

Over the past few years, corn temporary storage prices have basically only risen, international corn prices have continued to decline, there are too many warehouses for domestic corn purchased in temporary storage, and the price gap between domestic and imported corn has further widened. Obviously, if the production, supply and marketing of corn continue to rely on the government's high prices, it will be impossible to get through. Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explained this.

Li Guoxiang: the temporary collection and storage policy is a policy of intervention in the market. Domestic corn has changed from too tight to relatively loose or even surplus, but the temporary collection and storage policy of corn has not declined. Under the condition of market economy, price reflects the relationship between supply and demand, and is determined by the relationship between supply and demand.

"Corn is not suitable for all kinds of finance."

If there is more corn on the market, and the price still cannot go down, is it possible to set a minimum purchase price for corn? A person from a relevant department of the state said that in fact, the temporary storage and acquisition policy of corn has deviated from the idea of "selling only when it is time to sell." the temporary storage price is similar to the minimum purchase price, while corn, unlike rice and wheat, does not involve the absolute safety of food rations and is not suitable for financial sweeping.

Related person: you can't go on with temporary purchase and saving. if you get the lowest purchase price, the current dilemma will only be more serious and more difficult to go.

If you can't do all the financial work, there should be a trade-off. At the beginning, four types of agricultural products, namely, corn, cotton, soybeans and rapeseed, were successively protected by the temporary collection and storage policy. now, the temporary storage protection network for cotton, soybeans and rapeseed has been cancelled, and there is a different way to subsidize farmers. is the protection of corn too much now?

Related person: do we need to protect so many varieties? Do you need to spend so much effort to protect? This is a problem worthy of our reflection. In the next step, is it necessary to optimize the variety structure and regional structure without reducing the overall protection of agriculture?

The original intention of the temporary collection and storage mechanism to protect the interests of farmers is good, and the original intention of its design mechanism is also good, but in the process of implementation, it has become ossified and finally become more and more out of date. There is a consensus to reform this rigid temporary collection and storage mechanism. The key is how to change it. If the policy is cut directly and the price is set entirely by the market, will this work?

Business owner of processing trade: the rise and fall of corn prices is best decided by the market.

As the owner of corn processing trade, Manager Jia expressed the aspirations of most downstream enterprises that it was best to cancel the corn temporary storage policy, and it was up to the market to decide the rise and fall of corn prices.

Manager Jia: for us, we can better control and grasp the market, and the price will fluctuate with the market. When corn is concentrated on the market, the price will certainly fall (lower), but when it falls to a certain extent, it will be in the northeast, including the whole country, and prices will usually rise again from April to October.

Farmers: unwilling to cancel temporary collection and savings

However, if the policy slammed on the brakes and completely abolished the temporary collection and storage policy, most farmers would not like it.

The introduction of the corn temporary storage policy not only protects the interests of farmers, but also stabilizes agricultural production, and its significance cannot be ignored. Xu Shengquan, a farmer in Inner Mongolia, said that farmers are afraid that it is difficult to sell grain during a bumper harvest. The temporary collection and storage policy has solved this concern of farmers very well. If there is a bumper harvest of corn in the future, but the price is depressed very low, and the farmers lose money and lose money, the government does not care, then do the farmers still want to grow corn?

Xu Shengquan: for us, the most favorable thing is for the state to set the price, because the state-set price is relatively large in subsidizing the common people. You want the market to set the price, and those production enterprises are not allowed to lower the price. For the common people, they have to follow the national policy, and we will be whatever we decide.

How to choose in a dilemma?

Leaving the embarrassment of leaving and the difficulty of retreating, we should not only protect the interests of farmers, but also let the market mechanism work. The corn storage policy is really in a dilemma.

However, Cheng Guoqiang, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, believes that with the reduction of corn temporary storage prices this year, government intervention has already made certain concessions, and the price has been set at one yuan, mainly taking into account the supply and demand and price situation in domestic and foreign markets, taking into account the interests of all parties, so that the temporary storage price is as close to the market as possible. Of course, Cheng Guoqiang hopes this is just the beginning, and the next "upgraded version" of the policy will bring more surprises.

Cheng Guoqiang: this year's new grain will be on the market soon. It should be said that it is a transitional arrangement that has to be made. We hope that after this temporary reserve policy adjustment, starting from next year, there will be new policies that are more reasonable, do not distort the market, and can protect the interests of farmers.