Domestic temporary grain auction trapped strange circle corn turnover is only 5%

Corruption in some grain depots in northeast China. Recently, CCTV reported that some grain depots in Liaoning and Jilin provinces have problems such as using old grain to top new grain and maliciously taking subsidies for price differences in the process of policy grain collection, storage and sale. So, how does the grain depot operate and realize arbitrage?

Our reporter specially interviewed du Zheng, director of the Scientific Research Institute of the State Grain Administration, on the current problems in the grain field, such as "old grain is top new" and "three highs of grain."

If you have food in your hand, don't panic in your heart. In order to ensure food security, China has established a strong national reserve system. Relying on the central reserve grain depot, the state can easily deploy resources and stabilize the market; at the same time, it can also protect the interests of farmers and promote grain production through purchase at protective prices.

Du Zheng, director of the Scientific Research Institute of the State Grain Administration, said that in order to ensure the quality of the state's grain reserves, grain in state-owned grain depots needs to be rotated regularly, and the phenomenon of "turning grain" that has occurred frequently in recent years is to exploit loopholes in this process:

Reporter: how often is the grain in the state-owned grain depot rotated?

Du Zheng: three years of wheat, two years of rice and two years of corn. The grain department has been devoting itself to controlling this "circle grain" these years. Circle grain is the grain that should be turned out, and it comes in as a new grain wheel and deliberately eats the price difference. It has been treating this problem for so many years, but it is difficult. In some cases, it is not very obvious to look outside the new grain and the old grain. Some grain has been stored for two years. If the quality in good storage conditions does not change significantly.

Take wheat as an example, the grain depot greets flour mills and other enterprises before the purchase of the market and asks them to help take pictures of the old wheat collected and stored a few years ago. When it comes to the actual acquisition, the grain depot will buy back the wheat from the enterprises. Wheat in the transaction process did not leave the grain depot, only a false transaction between the grain depot and enterprises, in-situ "turn around", it can bring a new amount of financial subsidy income for the grain depot.

On the other hand, the aged grain in the "Chen Dingxin" incident in Liaoning and Jilin provinces is still different from the "circle grain":

Du Zheng: the normal rotation is also for the grain depot to promote aging and storage, and it is pushed out when its quality does not change much, so I just said that wheat for three years, rice for two years and corn for two years were not called old grain at that time, but it was not new grain. The old grain is the quality of the grain has changed, the so-called change, it certainly does not taste good, the appearance does not look good, and smells stale. This can be said to be old grain.

Du Zheng, director of the Scientific Research Institute of the State Grain Administration, said that the "Chen Dingxin" incident was even worse than "turning the grain around". Because to some extent, the quality of the old grain has changed obviously, and it is no longer suitable for people to eat:

Du Zheng: the real old grain is that after a few years of storage, the quality has obviously deteriorated due to improper storage. The quality of rice will not change significantly until it is the third year. Wheat generally has to be more than five years before there will be a quality change. I can feel the obvious difference. If you can see the change, it will be too bold and even more serious.

The original intention of establishing the grain reserve system in our country is to ensure food security. Relying on the central grain reserves, the state can easily deploy resources and stabilize the market; at the same time, it can also protect the interests of food and agriculture. This time, it was exposed that "Chen Dingxin" is a typical corruption case of "relying on the mountain for a living" and "relying on grain for a living".

It is worth noting that this is not the first time the media has exposed the problem of grain storage. According to incomplete statistics, since the establishment of the China Grain Storage system, hundreds of staff of the China Grain Storage system under the vertical management system have been investigated and dealt with for violating discipline, corruption and other problems. In particular, some major and important cases occur frequently in the grain storage system.

In 2011, there were many cases of corruption and staff absconding with money in Xuchang, Anyang and Zhoukou of Henan Branch of China National Grain Reserve. To this end, Li Changxuan, former general manager of China Grain Storage Henan Branch, was investigated by the Central Commission for discipline Inspection.

In 2012, in the process of implementing the grain protective purchase policy, the Jiangsu Huai'an direct warehouse of stored grain bought at a low price and entered it at a high price, capturing the national grain purchase price difference of 23 million yuan, and wantonly accepting bribes.

In August 2013, procuratorial organs dug up 110 "giant rats" in the Henan Branch of China Grain Storage; in August, it was found that imported genetically modified rapeseed was mixed into the temporary storage of China Grain Storage.

In September 2013, the Central Inspection team clearly pointed out that there are some problems such as "internal supervision and management is not strict enough", "grass-roots corruption cases are high and frequent" and so on. A few months later, however, a rental site in the Heilongjiang Hailin warehouse caught fire again.

A year and a half ago, the chairman and general manager of China Grain Reserve were both replaced. The new team announced that it would "zero tolerance" and "resolute punishment" for the "four evils" such as Chen Dingxin, turning grain in circles, raising prices and lowering prices, and privately setting up small coffers, and announced a series of systems and measures. it said that it would take rectification and reform of the "four evils" and other problems as a major political task for the company at present and for some time to come. Now it seems that there is still a long way to go before the goal of grain storage can be achieved.

It is said that if you know what it is, you still need to know why. The most basic reason why the problems of "turning grain in circles" and "Chen Dingxin" are able to arise is the problem of "three highs" of grain. Under the aura of "11 consecutive increases" in grain production, the stocks of the three major grains remain high. Ren Zhengxiao, director of the State Grain Administration, said publicly during the "two sessions" that "high yields, high purchases, and high stocks of corn and rice are superimposed." At the same time, grain stocks are currently facing sales difficulties, especially on April 9 this year, when the stored grain auction was held, the rice sales volume was only 0.02%. So how to deal with this problem in the future?

In recent years, China's grain prices are upside down with the international market, the scale of grain stocks is increasing, and the auction of temporary grain reserves continues to encounter difficulties, which also leads to more and more grain stocks in state-owned grain depots.

There is a periodic surplus of grain, there is a periodic surplus of some varieties, the international grain price is relatively low, and the domestic grain price ratio is high. Rice in some southern provinces was also seriously affected by smuggling some time ago, and now it is better. Generally speaking, there is still a periodic surplus. This is the main factor.

Take corn as an example, as of March 31, 2014, the cumulative purchase of temporary storage corn reached 76.11 million tons, an increase of 12.96 million tons over the same period last year. Under the pressure of huge stocks, on April 9 this year, before the end of the temporary corn purchase period, the State Grain Administration launched a corn auction, more than a month earlier than last year, and planned to sell 311449 tons of national temporary storage corn in 2012. However, even if a large number of acquisitions caused a sharp decline in corn circulation in the market, the actual turnover was only 15968 tons, with an average transaction price of 2497 yuan per ton. Du Zheng, director of the Scientific Research Institute of the State Grain Administration, said that the grain could not be sold, so the state could only use financial backing:

Du Zheng: after the temporary grain has been collected regularly, you have to sell it quickly. The state keeps auctioning it. The temporary storage wish he had sold it that year, but the market will not accept it unless you reduce the price in the market. The government has to weigh it and offer a rock bottom price every time. If it is lower than the reserve price, it has to fail to sell it. If it cannot be sold, it has to sell it next time.

Reporter: what if it can't be sold?

Du Zheng: that is the burden of the state, and the finance has to bear it. No matter which grain depot the grain is put in, the state has to pay a safekeeping fee, so from the point of view of the country, we hope to sell it as soon as possible, but we are afraid of suppressing the market. It is not impossible to sell, but the price reduction is too heavy.

It is understood that the national temporary storage of grain at auction on April 9 this year, including corn and rice, was pitiful, but it was not the ugliest-the planned sale of 1282297 tons of mid-and late indica rice in 2013 actually sold only 220 tons, with a turnover rate of only 0.02%.

There are two reasons why grain cannot be sold, one is the deterioration of perennial storage quality, the other is the high price and the huge price difference at home and abroad. After paying duty, imported corn from the United States is only 1570 yuan per ton, which is nearly 1,000 yuan lower than that of domestic corn. Under the market conditions, it is inevitable that the temporary storage corn can not be sold. Du Zheng, director of the Scientific Research Institute of the State Grain Administration, said that in order to reduce the losses caused by grain aging, the state is also making attempts in many aspects:

Du Zheng: from the perspective of national strategy, the No. 1 document issued by the state this year is to strengthen the transformation of grain, public welfare, alcohol, fuel and ethanol, which are all means of regulation. The state has many means of adjustment. A large number of conversion is to make fuel ethanol, and the state has always controlled ethanol, because China's grain belongs to the overall tight balance and has been restricting industrial use. However, when necessary, we should adjust appropriately, relax when it is time to relax, and tighten it when it is time to tighten. This is a means of national regulation, and it is only when we have no choice but to turn it into industrial use.

China has not released grain stocks, but some agencies have released unconfirmed figures that China's corn stocks reached an all-time high of 106 million tons in 2013 and 2014. And the grain stock enters a strange circle, the more it is stored, the older it is, the more it cannot be sold, and the more it cannot be sold, the older it is. People often say that if you have food in your hand, you will not panic in your heart, but now that there is more food, it has become a burden. Watching the hard-earned grain gradually become old grain, isn't this a kind of waste? It is indeed time to solve the problem.