A number of agricultural products will be priced by market experts to protect the interests of farmers.

The price control policy of agricultural products in China may usher in a historic adjustment. A reporter from the Economic Information Daily recently learned from the Ministry of Agriculture that in view of the next direction of agricultural product price reform, the state has decided to implement differential support policies for different varieties, and will continue to adhere to the minimum purchase price for rice and wheat rations, while the demand for corn, soybean, cotton, rapeseed and other industries is flexible.

Varieties with long chains and high correlation between domestic and foreign markets will pay attention to the decisive role of the market in forming prices, guide production through market price signals and adjust supply and demand.

The reporter learned that as a general mechanism for price formation under the conditions of a market economy, the vast majority of China's agricultural products have been priced by market supply and demand. The measures that the government has really intervened in prices mainly include the implementation of the minimum purchase price policy for two key grain varieties of rice and wheat in the main producing areas since 2004 and 2006. as well as the temporary purchase and storage of bulk agricultural products such as corn, soybeans, rapeseed and cotton since 2008.

With the passage of time, the international agricultural price has ended the rising cycle and began to fall sharply, while the domestic grain price has remained high for a long time because of the support of market purchase and temporary storage purchase price. "after the international grain and grain is taxed on shore, the price is still much cheaper than at home. For example, a jin of corn is nearly 50 cents cheaper, a jin of wheat is 35 cents cheaper, and a jin of rice is more than 50 cents cheaper." Han Jun, deputy director of the office of the central financial and economic leading group, said that what is more serious is that China's oil and sugar crops, such as sugar, impose tariffs of up to 50% outside the quota, but the price of a ton of imported sugar is still about 500 yuan cheaper than that of Chinese sugar.

"when China joined the WTO, it promised that agricultural subsidies should not exceed 8.5% of agricultural output value, which is a restriction on government subsidies that distort production and trade (a kind of" yellow box "policy), and now some of our product subsidies have exceeded the limit." Han Jun said that as the squeezing effect of the rising cost of domestic grain production "floor" is becoming more and more obvious, it is now necessary to turn some "yellow box" subsidies into "green boxes".

Chen Xiwen, deputy head of the Central Rural work leading Group and director of the office, said in an interview with reporters that this adjustment has two meanings: first, it is to implement the spirit of the decision of the third Plenary session of the CPC Central Committee and let the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources. at the same time, the government should also play a good role. The other is aimed at some actual problems at present, including contradictions such as low land income to farmers, upside down prices of imported agricultural products, shortage of domestic grain stocks, and so on.

In 2014, China decided to pilot the target price reform of cotton and soybeans in some areas, which is seen as a change from the "yellow box" policy to the "green box" policy. Recently, a document entitled "Summary of recommendation No. 1480 of the third session of the 12th National people's Congress" released by the Ministry of Agriculture further clearly put forward the direction of the next step of reform, in addition to soybeans and cotton, at least two major varieties of corn and rapeseed will also join the camp of price marketization reform.

Tu Xinquan, executive dean of the WTO Research Institute of the University of International Business and Economics, said that due to financial pressure, the proportion of agricultural subsidies in WTO member countries is relatively low, while China's subsidies are still increasing, so there is external pressure. Developed countries think that China's agricultural subsidy level is too high.

"of course, this does not mean that other countries have reduced their protection support for agriculture." Tu Xinquan said that in addition to subsidies, many countries use import duties, tariff quotas and non-tariff barriers to restrict the import of agricultural products, as well as tax incentives and other means to support agriculture. Take Japan as an example, after its accession to the WTO, Japan has made use of the relevant provisions of the World Trade Organization to strictly restrict the import of agricultural products. Since the 1990s, the Japanese government has allocated a large amount of financial funds within the scope of the "green box" policy allowed by the WTO rules to provide agricultural public services, improve agricultural infrastructure and promote the adjustment of agricultural production structure.

Song Hong, assistant director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that a few years ago, China's agricultural products were mainly purchased and protected, which led to a rapid increase in inventory and an increase in domestic production. Because of the international competitiveness of some agricultural products and foreign restrictions on imports, it is also difficult to digest through a large number of exports, the accumulated inventory digestion pressure has been increasing, liberalizing the price of agricultural products is a way to solve the problem. However, Song Hong warned that it is necessary to coordinate the relationship between the protection of farmers' interests and the smooth and effective operation of the market.