The price reform of agricultural products will enter the two-way subsidy channel.

The minimum purchase price and temporary reserve policy, which have lasted for many years, are forcing the price of agricultural products to rise faster.

Recently, the reporter learned from a number of sources that the price change of agricultural products may continue to be the focus of the "document No. 1" in 2015, and is expected to expand the scope of the pilot and pilot varieties, and the specific price reform plan is being studied by the relevant departments.

"the government's minimum collection and storage has replaced the market price, and the management channel of grain has been reduced to relying solely on medium grain storage. If it is not changed, it will not only put financial pressure on the government, but also make the international competitiveness of China's agricultural products worse and worse." The manager in charge of hedging in a large domestic agricultural enterprise said.

Zhang Zhixian, deputy director of the China Grain Network Yida Research Institute, told reporters that the state's temporary storage policy makes the minimum collection and storage price too much higher than the market price, thus breaking away from the real market price, so it is necessary to change the current price formation mechanism of agricultural products.

Price reform needs to be speeded up.

"there are many problems in the minimum purchase price and temporary storage policy that has lasted for many years, and it is imperative to change the price of agricultural products, but it is difficult to judge whether it can achieve obvious results." A number of agricultural products distribution enterprises and agricultural products production enterprises said in an interview with our reporter.

The reporter combed the process of China's agricultural product reform and found that China has launched the idea of grain market-oriented reform in an all-round way since 2004. The reform has transformed the enterprise management mechanism and devoted itself to solving the institutional problems such as "old people, old debts, old grain". However, after the implementation of the minimum grain purchase price policy, the grain market-oriented reform has stagnated or even retrogressed.

Among them, the most intuitive embodiment is that the government purchase price has gradually replaced the market price, and the original multi-channel management model has become a single operation relying on grain storage.

"as the government collection and storage price is much higher than the reasonable market price, the general agricultural products enterprises are afraid to enter the market rashly for fear of losses after the acquisition. Basically, the designated enterprises entrusted by the China Grain Storage Company are making acquisitions. Ordinary enterprises can only work and collect for the medium Grain Storage and maintain their operations." Zhang Qiang, a practitioner of agricultural products futures, told reporters that this makes most agricultural products management enterprises have to rely on the big tree of stored grain to ensure harvest.

This kind of minimum purchase price and temporary collection and storage price was originally intended to help farmers "stop loss", but in practice, the minimum purchase price and temporary collection and storage price have become the "target price" starting from increasing farmers' income.

According to statistics, since the policy storage was introduced in 2004, except for 2008, 2010 and 2011 for rice, except 2011 for wheat, except for 2010 for corn, the collection and storage of soybean and rapeseed have been started for five consecutive years respectively. Cotton has been harvested and stored for three consecutive years and sugar for two consecutive years.

In 2013, the minimum purchase price of rice and wheat was 1.39 yuan and 1.12 yuan per jin, which increased by 0.67 yuan, 93% and 0.42 yuan and 60% respectively over 2004 and 2006; corn and rapeseed increased by 60% and 38% respectively; and the temporary reserve price of soybeans increased by 24% by 2013.

Behind this, by 2013, the "four subsidies" of direct grain subsidies, comprehensive agricultural materials subsidies, improved varieties subsidies and agricultural machinery purchase subsidies for grain farmers in China have reached 170 billion yuan, an increase of 10.72 times over 2004.

"it seems that the minimum purchase price has always been regarded as a lever to protect farmers' income, but in fact this is not the case. while the state has introduced protective prices, the prices of other related products have also risen, increasing the price composition cost of agricultural products; therefore, farmers do not get much benefit from the protective price." Zhang Qiang pointed out.

On the other hand, because the price of agricultural products in China has been farther and farther away from the international price because of the government's "supporting the market", it is deviating from the real market price. China's minimum collection and storage price makes the same variety of agricultural products lose their competitiveness in the international market. Take soybeans as an example, on November 25th, the distribution price of imported soybeans was 3760 yuan to 3780 yuan per ton, while the shipping price of commodity beans in Heilongjiang was 4000 yuan to 4560 yuan per ton, and the price difference was about 800 yuan per ton.

Therefore, in order to return to the market pricing principle, the price formation mechanism of agricultural products must be decoupled from government subsidies. On January 19, 2014, the State Council issued some opinions on comprehensively deepening Rural Reform and accelerating Agricultural Modernization, clearly put forward the principle of market pricing, gradually establish a target price system, and launch pilot projects of target prices for soybeans and cotton in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and finally straighten out the price composition mechanism and let the market determine the price.

Wait-and-see international price

"the temporary collection and storage of soybeans and cotton has been cancelled this year, but a target price system has also been designed at the national level to ensure the interests of producers and the food security of our country." The introduction of target price is the breakthrough of this round of agricultural product price reform pilot.

The so-called target price system means that the government sets the target price of agricultural products, subsidizes low-income consumers when the actual market price is higher than the target price, and subsidizes producers according to the price difference when the market price is lower than the target price.

Compared with temporary storage, Zhang Zhixian believes that the target price system protects the party affected by the market through two-way subsidies. As for the formulation of the target price, it is based on factors such as the previous market price and the production cost of agricultural products.

Among them, the cotton harvest period is from September to November of that year, and soybeans are from October of that year to March of the following year. The trading volume of cotton and soybeans in these two pricing periods can reach about 85% and 80% of the annual sales, respectively, which can basically represent the actual selling prices in the pilot areas.

For example, the target price of soybeans announced by the state in 2014 is 4800 yuan / ton, that is, 2.4 yuan per catty; this means that if the corresponding market price is less than 4800 yuan / ton in the future, producers will be subsidized, and if the market price is higher than 4800 yuan / ton, then there will be no subsidy.

Because the soybean target price period ends in March 2015, so until now the corresponding market price has not been fully reflected. A soybean dealer interviewed in Jilin Province told reporters that this year's soybean market is different from previous years, because without guidelines for collecting and storing prices, ordinary dealers do not dare to buy in large quantities or simply buy as much as they want.

So, compared with the wait-and-see attitude of dealers, what is the attitude of soybean growers towards the target price?

Our reporter interviewed a number of soybean growers in Jilin. "it may be that the publicity is not in place, and most farmers are not very clear about the target price system." A farmer surnamed Duan in Jilin told our reporter that although he had already sold more than 30 mu of soybeans this year, the price was lower than in previous years, with a price of 4300 yuan per ton, which is different from the target price of 4800 yuan per ton set by Jilin. In theory, he can get a subsidy, but since his own selling price of 4300 yuan per ton does not represent the market price corresponding to the target price, can he get a subsidy? At present, it seems to be an "unknown".

If 4300 yuan / ton is set as the market price of soybeans in Jilin region, then there will be a price difference between the target price and the market price. According to the information obtained by our reporter, in Jilin area, the yield of soybeans per mu is about 200 kilograms. After conversion, every mu of soybeans can get a government subsidy of 100 yuan.

In response, the farmer surnamed Duan said that if the subsidy can really reach 100 yuan per mu, then soybeans can continue to be planted, but the policy subsidy is less than 100 yuan per mu, so he will consider planting other crops in the coming year.

According to the implementation Plan for the pilot work of Soybean Target Price Reform in Jilin Province, in 2014, the collection and storage policy was abolished within Jilin Province, the government no longer intervened in the market price, the price was completely determined by market supply and demand, and producers sold soybeans according to the market price. as for whether the target price subsidy will become a producer "protective price", it is not clear yet.

Zhang Zhixian believes that in China, land is basically contracted to households, and it is entirely up to farmers to decide what to grow on the land. If the market price of soybeans is too low and farmers do not receive subsidies, it is entirely possible for farmers to plant other crops with good economic benefits.

"since the price reform of agricultural products has been started, it will naturally gradually increase the submission of pilot varieties with the expansion of the pilot. Which varieties will be introduced after the pilot of soybeans and cotton?" Zhang Zhixian believes that it may be sugar or rapeseed, while the broader corn and wheat may be at the bottom of the list.