The state lowered the temporary storage price of corn and blew a pool of water.

Recently, Hua Shujun, a large corn grower in Gaojia Village, Matsubara City, Jilin Province, often went to the national reserve near the village to inquire about the purchase price and warehousing of corn.

In addition to farming, Hua Shujun also runs a planting cooperative. This year, more than 60 members have planted corn. A few days ago, some members sold corn, water content about 26%, 0.81 yuan per catty.

On November 1, the state officially launched this year's temporary storage corn purchase in the three northeastern provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, one month earlier than the same period in previous years. According to the regulations of the National Development and Reform Commission and other four ministries and commissions, the temporary storage price of corn this year is 1 yuan/catty, 0.12 yuan lower than last year. Since the implementation of the corn temporary storage policy in 2008, the purchase price has been lowered for the first time.

In the farmer's words,"last year, we could sell a piece of dry corn with a moisture content of about 14% per catty. This year, we can only sell it for one yuan at most."

In the Northeast, the moisture content of freshly harvested corn is around 30%. "If you remove a few cents of threshing and transportation costs, you won't be able to sell it for eight cents per catty." Hua Shujun said. Unless he was in a hurry for money, most of the corn harvested by members of his planting cooperative was still stored in their own yards.

Although Hua Shujun knew that the price of state temporary reserves would not change frequently, he still called together members to discuss and wait for more than 20 days. They calculate that if the treasury does not receive enough grain this year, maybe 26% moisture corn can be sold for 24% moisture corn price in a while, and they can earn a few more cents.

What they didn't know was that the corn temporary storage stocks in the three eastern provinces were under great pressure. As far as Jilin Province is concerned, the corn stock in the state reserve has been more than three times higher than normal.

However, the huge inventory did not bring good news to corn deep processing enterprises. The corn purchase price that has been rising in previous years makes it difficult for corn deep processing enterprises to bear high production costs, or lose money or stop production or close down. In the view of many responsible persons of corn deep processing enterprises, the temporary storage price of corn is lowered by 0.12 yuan per catty, which is too small for enterprises.

Farmers cry compensation, enterprises cry loss, corn price after all how?

"If you don't want to plant corn, you'll lose."

The most important thing is the support of state policies, which is the reason why Hua Shujun and his cooperative farmers choose to grow corn.

In recent years, farmers have benefited from this. From 2008, the purchase price of corn temporary storage in Jilin area was 0.75 yuan/catty, and the highest price rose to 1.12 yuan/catty last year. Following the rise in corn purchase prices is the cost of farming for farmers. In various regions of Jilin Province, land rents have risen year after year. A few years ago, the rent of the best plot in Gaojia Village, Matsubara City, was 7000 yuan per year, but this year the rent has risen to more than ten thousand yuan per year.

This year, Huashu Army produced 14 mu (140 mu) corn. The rent for each site is 8500 yuan, plus the consumption of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, and the cost for each site is about 12,000 yuan. Hua Shujun said that this does not include labor costs.

Unfortunately, July this year is the corn heading period, Jilin Province suffered from drought in many places. Hua Shujun's corn field has been reduced by nearly half. Normally, each harvest can harvest more than 20,000 catties, this year only more than 10,000 catties. In addition to the corn temporary storage price reduction, Hua Shujun not only did not earn money this year, but also lost more than 1500 yuan per trip,"if you don't want to plant corn, you will lose money, the more you plant, the more you lose."

In Jilin, like Hua Shujun, there are not a few farmers who rent land to grow corn and lose money.

At the same time of lowering the temporary reserve price, the state has raised the standard for corn purchase quality. In previous years, the mildew rate can enter the treasury within 5%, but this year it should be controlled within 2%.

Zhang Yanhua of Dongxing Village, Changling County, Matsubara City, sold the corn a week after receiving it home. She felt that if she continued to wait, the price would not be raised, and the mildew rate at home might increase."If you can't enter the treasury, the loss will be greater."

Changchun Nong 'an County Huaguan planting professional cooperative supervisor Cui Lei told China Youth Daily reporter, Cooperative nearly 30,000 corn growers, At present only one third sold corn. Knowing that the standard of corn stored in the country has been improved, the general practice adopted by farmers is to turn over the corn with cobs stored in the yard one by one and remove the moldy particles."It is estimated that the moldy rate should be controlled within 2% in this way."

Although scientific grain storage has been promoted in Jilin Province in recent years, there are still many farmers who pile corn directly on the soil after harvest. According to the statistics of Grain Bureau of Jilin Province, the average loss rate of corn stored by farmers in Jilin Province is about 11.8%.

What about corn with a mildew rate between 2 and 5 percent? According to state regulations, local governments organize purchases in accordance with the requirements of the provincial governor responsibility system for food security and the local responsibility system for food security. Jilin Province grain bureau regulation director Wang Tao told China Youth Daily reporter, At present Jilin Province mildew rate in this interval corn yield is still in statistics, How to purchase and deal with, Still to be discussed.

"I don't know if it will be normal production next year."

In the past 7 years since the temporary storage policy was implemented, although farmers benefited, the life of corn deep processing enterprises was difficult.

The temporary reserve policy led to the inversion of the two corn markets. First, domestic and foreign corn prices upside down. Xiao Fei, general manager of a corn deep processing enterprise, introduced that when the domestic corn price difference is the highest, it is 1000 yuan/ton higher than the international corn price. As a result, the export of corn deep processing enterprises in Jilin Province was restricted. In the past, a large number of corn deep-processed products of Xiao Fei's company will be exported to Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea and other countries and regions."In the past three or four years, this part of export orders has been lost, and customers have been lost."

The second price inversion is between provinces and regions that implement the corn temporary storage policy and provinces and regions that do not implement this policy. At present, this policy is only implemented in the three northeastern provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. "In the past, Jilin corn deep processing enterprises still had the advantage of raw material origin. One ton of corn could save 150 yuan to 200 yuan. This price just made up for the cost of transporting the products to the south of the main sales area." Xiao Fei said that this advantage was gone now.

In previous years, during the corn harvest season, Xiao Fei had to grab a batch of corn that could not be stored in the treasury,"but the quantity was far from enough." Because of the high price of temporary storage, most farmers pay attention to the quality of corn and strive to sell it to the treasury. Every year around March, it is difficult for businesses to buy corn in the market.

If you want to produce normally, you must go to the state warehouse to auction the temporary stored corn. Last year, the state treasury purchase price was 2240 yuan / ton, to the enterprise at least 2400 yuan / ton, Xiao Fei's enterprise can not afford such a high cost.

Corn deep processing enterprises in the three northeastern provinces which no longer have the price advantage of raw materials are very difficult to compete with similar enterprises in foreign countries and even other provinces in China.

From the middle of August to the end of September this year, the plight of corn processing enterprises in Jilin Province reached its peak. There are a total of 22 corn processing enterprises in the province, most of which have stopped production, and some have gone bankrupt or closed down.

As a result, Jilin Province subsidized corn processing enterprises in the fourth quarter, with a subsidy of 250 yuan for every ton of corn purchased.

With subsidies, Xiao Fei bought a batch of new corn locally at a price of 1850 yuan / ton, ensuring that the company produced at full capacity in the fourth quarter, "at least not at a loss."

According to Wang Tao, corn deep processing enterprises in Jilin Province have a total annual production capacity of more than 15 million tons. After the subsidy, 14 enterprises continued to maintain production, starch products slightly loss, alcohol products slightly profitable.

Xiao Fei calculated that if the enterprise wanted not to lose money, the price of corn would have to be less than 1600 yuan per ton. In the past, when corn prices were at their lowest in mid-November, Xiao Fei's company would store more than 100, 000 to 200000 tons of corn to guarantee usage for more than 20 days to a month.

"now no one dares to build inventory any more. They all use it whenever they buy it." Xiao Fei said that at present, the domestic corn market is changing so fast that many long-term orders are afraid to sign. Their enterprise now has a production capacity of 750000 tons, and it is planned to double its production capacity in recent years. However, in the past three years, the cumulative loss of the enterprise has reached 200 million. The larger the temporary reserves of corn, the more losses the deep processing enterprises will lose.

It is not known whether Jilin Province will continue to subsidize corn processing enterprises next year.

How much is the price of corn?

According to the analysis of a number of industry experts, the state has continuously raised the corn temporary storage purchase price, which has aroused the enthusiasm of farmers in planting and ensured the national food security, but has affected the supply and demand of corn in the domestic market. As a result, domestic grain prices are significantly higher than those in the international market, corn stocks in the main producing areas remain high, and the financial burden is increasing day by day.

In the view of Shu Kunliang, deputy director of the Northeast Regional Agricultural Development Research Center, the high inventory in the main producing areas is a structural surplus. The upstream temporary storage policy leads to market distortion, inventory can not be eliminated, and the demand for downstream industrial and feed corn can not be met.

"at present, under the premise that the country is unable to sell corn in temporary storage at a reasonable price, it has to be adjusted from the supply side, that is, to reduce the planting area of corn." Shu Kunliang said.

How to effectively reduce the planting area of corn? Shu Kunliang believes that a lot of research and calculations are needed, not only the price of corn, but also other competing crops, such as soybeans, to allow farmers to voluntarily reduce their corn acreage.

Jilin Province is not only the gold planting belt of corn, but also the gold planting belt of soybeans. Shu Kunliang said that in recent years, high-yield corn has replaced low-yield and rotation soybeans, and soybean acreage has shrunk sharply.

In 2012, corn overtook rice to become the largest food crop in the country, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. In 2014, the country's total grain output reached 607.09 million tons, of which corn output was 215.67 million tons.

At present, no one can tell how much the domestic corn price is appropriate. A number of experts pointed out that corn is a quasi-public product and cannot be fully marketized. What is being studied and discussed is the target price of corn, that is, taking into account the prices of corn market and other competitive crops and state subsidies.

Shu Kunliang said that the state and the main corn producing areas can be a contractual relationship. He and his corn development research group suggested that the country should specify how much corn the main producing areas need to produce and sign orders with the main producing areas. The quantity of the order must match the target price of corn in order to ensure that farmers can produce the order quantity of corn. Precise regulation and production should be the trend of maize planting in the future.

In the face of the reduction in corn temporary storage prices this year, Jilin Province has opened 901 temporary storage sites, and more than 200 will continue to be arranged. Wang Tao said that opening up more temporary storage sites can not only help farmers reduce transportation costs, but also form healthy competition among grain depots, present a seller's market, and help farmers sell grain.

In addition, through television publicity and guidance, the Jilin Provincial Grain Bureau has also let farmers know that "1 yuan per jin" is already the highest collection and storage price this year, hoping to reduce farmers' wait-and-see and cherish sales.

What should be planted next year? Cui Lei, who has been growing corn for six years, said that in addition to his own 3 plots of land, he will not cover any additional land to grow corn. The Nong'an Huaguan planting Cooperative, where he belongs, also plans to encourage its members to reduce the planting area of corn and support projects such as vegetables, melons and fruits in the greenhouse.

Hua Shujun, who has been growing corn for more than a decade, estimates that land rental prices should fall next year. He will also grow corn in a large area. "We are the best place to grow corn."