The import of sorghum, barley and other imports must be licensed to strengthen regulation and control.

From September 1, there will be an additional procedure for the import of barley, sorghum, cassava and corn distiller's grains-automatic import licenses.

On August 6, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs issued a joint notice No. 34 of 2015, deciding to bring barley, sorghum, cassava and corn lees into automatic import license management, which will be implemented from September 1.

Industry insiders and experts said that the inclusion of the above four categories of commodities in automatic import licensing management is intended to effectively monitor these categories of commodities, and the intention of relevant departments to strengthen trade regulation and control of relevant agricultural products is obvious.

Import increase procedures

According to a joint announcement issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs, four categories of goods such as barley, sorghum, cassava and corn lees have been included in the catalogue of goods under automatic import licensing administration since September, meaning that the imports of these four types of products must apply for automatic import licenses.

With reference to the 2015 catalogue of goods under automatic Import license Administration issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs, vegetable oil, soybeans, sugar, rapeseed and other agricultural and sideline products are also included.

The so-called automatic import license refers to the license certificate issued by the license issuing agency authorized by the Ministry of Commerce to the goods subject to automatic import license administration according to law. Article 11 of the measures for the Administration of automatic Import license of goods implemented since January 1, 2005 clearly stipulates that if the consignee meets the requirements of the relevant laws and regulations of the state on engaging in automatic import license goods, he may apply for and obtain an automatic Import license.

In accordance with the relevant provisions, the Ministry of Commerce and its subordinate competent departments and agencies shall be responsible for the administration of automatic import license goods and the issuance of relevant certificates.

Before being included in the catalogue of goods under automatic import licensing administration, imports of four categories of goods, namely barley, sorghum, cassava and corn distiller's grains, are only required to provide a notice of entry goods on the regulatory documents.

"before import, you need to have a customs clearance form for inbound goods approved by the inspection and quarantine department, and you have to go through the customs clearance form before you can go through the customs declaration formalities." A customs official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained to the reporter.

Starting from September 1, in addition to the entry notice, the import of these four types of goods must first apply to the commercial department for an automatic import license before going through the customs declaration formalities.

"to put it simply, these four categories of goods have added a regulatory department to the import of these four types of goods." The customs official said, "as long as we stop issuing automatic import licenses, these four categories of goods cannot be imported."

According to the provisions of Article 15 of the measures for the Administration of automatic Import Licensing of goods, where the State adopts temporary measures to prohibit the import of goods under the administration of automatic import licenses or restrictions on the quantity of imports, from the date on which the temporary measures come into effect, stop issuing automatic import licenses.

During the interview, a number of industry insiders also told reporters that due to the increase of automatic import license procedures, the relevant departments have actually strengthened the supervision of relevant imports, although there are no clear next step measures at present, but the attitude of strengthening control is very clear.

A surge in imports of four categories of goods

For the introduction of the new import management policy, the relevant industry insiders said that it is not surprising.

Behind the introduction of the new policy and the strengthening of control, there has been a large import of barley, sorghum, cassava and corn lees in the past year or two.

In 2014, imports of barley and sorghum doubled, leading to an increase in total grain imports. According to statistics, sorghum imports last year were 5.776 million tons, an increase of 4.4 times over the same period last year. According to relevant analysts, China may import more than 10 million tons of sorghum in 2015. According to 2015 customs data, China imported more than 1 million tons of sorghum in May this year. In 2014, barley imports were about 5.41 million tons, an increase of about 130 percent over the same period last year.

The surge in imports of sorghum and barley is due to a gap in domestic demand on the one hand and a price advantage on the other.

Zhang Jing, chief scientist of the national modern agricultural barley industrial technology system, told reporters that a few years ago, the maximum import of barley was no more than 3 million tons. "before, most of the imports were beer barley, 90% of which were used for beer brewing." Zhang Jing pointed out that domestic beer production has been stable in the past year or two, and demand has not increased. "the growth comes from the demand of the domestic feed industry."

In recent years, due to the continuous growth of temporary corn collection and storage prices, high domestic corn prices, and quota restrictions on corn imports, downstream enterprises in the corn industry have turned to look for corn substitutes.

Zou Jianqiu, chief scientist of the national modern agricultural sorghum industry technology system, told reporters that sorghum is divided into feed, edible and alcohol sorghum. "it is mainly imported from Australia and the United States, and most of the imports are feed sorghum, which goes to feed enterprises."

Compared with domestic, the import price of barley and sorghum is lower. "imported barley per jin is about 10% lower than that in China." Zhang Jing said. At the same time, compared with imported corn prices, their prices are also competitive.

According to data, China's cost of importing corn is about $380 per ton, compared with $284 for sorghum. In the context of the widening cost gap, more and more businesses will turn to sorghum.

There is a lot of chaos in imports.

The surge of sorghum and barley imports has not only changed the structure of grain imports, but also had an impact on the production of these small crops.

In the view of experts, sorghum and barley are themselves small crops, and compared with staple grain crops, they do not have a large planting area and do not enjoy policies such as the lowest purchase price and temporary purchase and storage price. If the import volume continues to increase, then it will deal a blow to farmers' enthusiasm for planting, and the development of the industry will also plummet.

In addition to the impact on domestic production, the substantial increase in imports also brings other hidden risks.

Zou Jianqiu revealed that some customs staff had asked her how to distinguish between different uses of sorghum. "some importers import feed sorghum as alcohol sorghum, or claim that Australia imports alcohol sorghum, while the United States imports feed sorghum," she told reporters. "in fact, this is wrong. the tannin content of imported sorghum does not meet the domestic standard of alcohol sorghum." These substandard sorghums are transported to the winery, and the quality of the wine produced is also greatly affected.

In addition, with the rapid increase in the number of imports, cases of weeds and diseases detected in import inspection and quarantine are also increasing.

For example, last year Xiamen Haicang Inspection and Quarantine Bureau inspected a batch of imported sorghum inspection and quarantine weed seeds seriously exceeded the standard. In July this year, Lianyungang Inspection and Quarantine Bureau intercepted exotic pests from imported cassava containers from Vietnam.

However, the introduction of the new policy has released a signal to strengthen control, which also makes experts believe that the new policy will also bring certain constraints to the chaos in the import market.