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Southern japonica rice prices under pressure, limited room for further gains
By the end of December, the japonica rice harvest in the south was basically complete, enterprises accelerated their intake into storage, and purchasing entered its late stage. Market prices trended upward steadily, but the gains were limited. As New Year's Day and the Spring Festival approach, grain purchasing and selling, processing enterprises and traders have successively entered the market to purchase, demand has expanded
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Grain prices plummet, farmers' incomes drop sharply, and finances and stockpiles are under pressure too
This year's grain prices have fallen too hard. Liu Xueyou said helplessly. Liu Xueyou, 51 this year, is a major grain grower in Xi County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, with more than 16,000 mu of transferred land, accounting for one percent of the county's total arable land, and is known as the "Grain King of Henan." The fall in grain prices caught him
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The soybean market has been under heavy pressure recently, with prices clearly under strain
In December, the global soybean trade side and supply side became hot topics of market attention. On the one hand, the reduction of Argentina's soybean export tariff helps boost its export competitiveness; the export competitiveness of US soybeans is further weakened; China's soybean imports will also reach their annual peak. On the other
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The 13th Five-Year Plan agricultural upgrade faces heavy development pressure
2016 is the inaugural year of the 13th Five-Year Plan. At that time, what situation and challenges will China's food security face? Where will China's agricultural structural adjustment begin? How will crop production and agricultural product processing technology innovate? How will domestic and international food safety strategies connect and
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Where is the grain market heading in 2016? Storage pressure remains considerable
After the bumper harvest: grain storage pressure remains considerable At present, China has achieved twelve consecutive increases in the summer grain harvest and eleven consecutive years of bumper annual grain harvests, but after the bumper harvests, the pressure on grain purchase and storage is considerable. Yan Bo, spokesperson for the State Administration of Grain and director of the Department of Policies and Regulations, introduced that our
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Soybean Imports Under Pressure: Cost Rises by 3 Million Yuan per Vessel
On August 11, news that Russia would lower tariffs on related agricultural products roiled the commodities market. Coincidentally, the People's Bank of China's sharp downward revision of the RMB central parity rate during the same period also gave some agricultural products a different performance. Zhuochuang Information told a Securities Daily reporter that, affected by the RMB depreciation, Chicago soybean futures surged 3.5% on Monday before plunging 2.6% on Tuesday. Apart from the impact on the futures market, soybean imports are also expected to be "badly hurt" later on. As the world's largest buyer of soybeans, China has had an import dependence rate for soybeans above 50% over the past 15 years; especially in the past six years, China's foreign dependence on soybeans has exceeded 80%, and in 2014 the foreign dependence rate was around 86%. Without considering foreign exchange arbitrage, if domestic soybean traders import soybeans at the latest exchange rate, the cost per vessel increases by about 3 million yuan. Although importing enterprises can use foreign exchange arbitrage tools to reduce exchange losses, if the RMB continues to depreciate, enterprises' import costs will face the risk of a sharp rise. <p> </p> <p> On August 11, news that Russia would lower tariffs on related agricultural products roiled the commodities market.</p> <p> Coincidentally, the People's Bank of China's sharp downward revision of the RMB central parity rate during the same period also gave some agricultural products a different performance. Zhuochuang Information told a Securities Daily reporter that, affected by the RMB depreciation, Chicago soybean futures surged 3.5% on Monday before plunging 2.6% on Tuesday. Apart from the impact on the futures market, soybean imports are also expected to be “badly hurt” later on. As the world's largest buyer of soybeans, China has had an import dependence rate for soybeans above 50% over the past 15 years; especially in the past six years, China's foreign dependence on soybeans has exceeded 80%, and in 2014 the foreign dependence rate was around 86%. Without considering foreign exchange arbitrage, if domestic soybean traders import soybeans at the latest exchange rate, the cost per vessel increases by about 3 million yuan. Although importing enterprises can use foreign exchange arbitrage tools to reduce exchange losses, if the RMB continues to depreciate, enterprises' import costs will face the risk of a sharp rise.</p> <p> Soybean imports remain at a high level</p> <p> A Securities Daily reporter learned from Zhuochuang Information that Russia has stated that, in order to honor its commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO), it will continue to gradually lower export tariffs on major oilseeds, starting from September 1, 2015. The soybean export tariff will drop to zero, and the rapeseed export tariff will drop to 6.5%, but no lower than 11.4 euros per ton. The sunflower seed export tariff will drop to 9.88%, but no lower than 14.81 euros per ton.</p> <p> In this regard, Zhuochuang Information believes this may change the pattern of China's sources for imported soybeans.</p> <p> A Securities Daily reporter checked data from the General Administration of Customs. Looking at import volume data, soybean imports showed a surge in July. The data shows that 9.5 million tons of soybeans were imported in July, while from January to July cumulative imports reached 44.66 million tons, with import volume up 7.1% year on year and value down 19.7% year on year.</p> <p> Checking data from other months so far this year shows that although soybean import data fluctuated repeatedly in the first half of this year, with differing degrees of year-on-year increases and decreases, the July import volume increased noticeably when the data are ranked.</p> <p> Separately, media reports said the surge in soybean imports was mainly because South American soybeans were cheap, stimulating increased purchasing demand from Chinese buyers. The China National Grain and Oils Information Center forecasts that soybean imports in August and September will total 13 million tons, higher than 11.06 million tons in the same period last year.</p> <p> Corresponding to the surge in imports is the continuous shrinking of the domestic soybean market. The China National Grain and Oils Information Center expects China's soybean output next year to fall to 11 million tons, below this year's 12.15 million tons.</p> <p> While news of Russia's tariff cut is still echoing, the RMB depreciation has added another layer of meaning to soybean import and export business. “The RMB has depreciated continuously for two days by a relatively large margin, which is a major positive for foreign trade enterprises. In recent years, the RMB has kept appreciating, while international market demand has been sluggish, dealing a relatively large blow to China's exports. In July this year, exports fell 8.3% year on year. After the RMB depreciation, the price advantage of China's exported goods will be somewhat strengthened, which is conducive to improving the performance of foreign trade enterprises. In fact, the main purpose of this central bank-led RMB depreciation is to promote exports.” Guo Fanli, research director at China Venture Consulting, explained to Securities Daily. Specifically for agricultural enterprises, Guo Fanli believes enterprises should actively raise the added value of their products and develop mid- to high-end business. This RMB depreciation is a good opportunity for China's agricultural processing import and export enterprises to rebuild their brand image. Agricultural processing import and export enterprises can export some mid- to high-end products, and because of the RMB depreciation, these mid- to high-end products are expected to be welcomed by the market for their relatively high cost-performance ratio. Once foreign markets have relatively high recognition of China's exported mid- to high-end products, even if the RMB appreciates in the future, it will not have a relatively large impact on agricultural processing import and export business.</p> <p> Some agricultural analysts also explained in interviews with Securities Daily that the current agricultural production model determines that domestic soybeans regaining market share will not happen overnight.</p> <p> The phenomenon of “concentrated arrival at ports” will continue</p> <p> Changes in the soybean market structure have also given the current market clear characteristics. A research report from Guotai Junan shows that China's soybean imports continue to show the phenomenon of “concentrated arrival at ports”; therefore, China's soybean imports are expected to fall month on month in August, but in absolute terms they are still expected to remain in a high range.</p> <p> Because China's soybean imports surged in July, setting the highest monthly import volume ever recorded. Guotai Junan believes that in the first seven months of 2015, there were some keywords to follow in global soybean trade: China's soybean imports will fall month on month in August, with import volume estimated at around 8 million to 8.5 million tons; China's soybean import volume once again set a record high for the same period in history, and China's soybean imports are expected to gradually decline in August.</p> <p> Now, with changes in Russia's soybean export tariff policy, the market structure may also change. Zhuochuang Information believes that China's main soybean importing countries are currently the United States, Brazil and Argentina. Looking at import data from the first half of the year, the three countries accounted for 97% of import volume, while Russia accounted for only 0.72%. However, affected by Russia's soybean exports soon facing zero tariffs, “plus the fact that in recent years farmers in Northeast China have tended to go to Russia to grow soybeans, it is expected that China's soybean imports from Russia will increase somewhat later on.”</p> <p> </p>
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In some areas, selling grain is difficult; multiple measures have been taken to ease the pressure of selling grain
Because of successive rainstorms during this year's wheat harvest, imperfect grains of wheat in parts of Anhui and other places exceeded the standard, making it difficult for the quality to meet the national purchase and storage standard. To ease the problem of farmers having difficulty selling grain, various localities and departments have successively introduced multiple measures to effectively safeguard the interests of grain-growing farmers.
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Soybean meal market faces pullback pressure after weather-driven speculation
Over the past two months, soybean meal futures contracts have seen a sharp decline followed by a rapid rebound, and the current price is already close to the high at the start of the decline. Does this mean the soybean meal market has already reversed? First, let us analyze the reasons for the earlier decline in soybean meal: First, sluggish domestic demand for soybean meal led to price declines. Weak demand in the livestock and aquaculture industry constrained soybean meal consumption. China's hog inventory and breeding sow inventory fell sharply year on year; prices of meat, eggs and poultry were sluggish, and farming losses were severe; demand in aquaculture slowed, constraining demand for protein meal. Second, soybean meal supply increased substantially, spot prices fell sharply, some basis contracts faced default risk, and selling off occurred.</P><P> Now let us look at the reasons for the rapid rise in soybean meal. The author believes that the rise in soybean meal came partly from a return of prices after the earlier excessive decline; on the other hand, it came from speculation driven by heavy rain in the main U.S. soybean producing areas, which caused market concern about U.S. soybean planted area and good-to-excellent ratings. The planted area data and weekly soybean good-to-excellent ratings data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on June 30 both confirmed the market's concerns about U.S. soybean planting. These data will, in the short term, still support U.S. soybean futures in maintaining high-level oscillation, which will substantially raise the cost of China's imported soybeans, forcing crushing plants to passively raise the prices of soybean meal and soybean oil.</P><P> But in the short term, speculation over the impact of severe weather on planting may cool somewhat, and the loose fundamentals will bring great pressure on soybean meal prices.</P><P> From the perspective of soybean meal supply, global soybean supply is ample. After U.S. soybeans hit a record high last year, soybean output in Argentina and Brazil also hit record highs, which will suppress legume prices over the medium and long term. Domestically, China's soybean imports in June may reach 8.53 million tons and in July reach 8 million tons, so soybean sources are very abundant; at present, the operating rate of domestic crushing plants remains at an extremely high level of about 54%, and soybean meal supply has recently remained high. The volume of domestic rapeseed meal and imported DDGS remains high, suppressing plant protein prices.</P><P> On the demand side, although the hog farming industry currently shows restocking demand, truly driving soybean meal consumption may still require waiting for hog inventory data to stop falling and rebound before it can be confirmed. The meat, egg and poultry farming industry remains sluggish. Due to oversupply, prices of meat poultry and eggs fell sharply earlier, severely dampening the enthusiasm of farming enterprises to restock. In aquaculture, because oversupply last year led to sharp price declines, pond stock levels in the south are relatively high this year, constraining the release of fry. Recently, rainfall has been excessive, feed placement in ponds has decreased, which is bearish for meal consumption. Later, as large quantities of stocked fish are sold, demand for protein meal from newly released fry may decline substantially, so demand for protein meal from aquaculture later is also worrying.</P><P> Based on the information on both supply and demand, the author believes that soybean meal supply and demand will remain loose, and after the bullish U.S. heavy rain weather factor is fully priced in, soybean meal prices will return to fundamentals in the short term, with the possibility of oscillating pullbacks.</P></p>
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Corn prices keep falling step by step, and the pressure to release state reserves is great
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture held a symposium on agricultural structural adjustment for the four northeastern provinces and regions in Changchun, Jilin Province, specifically requiring the four northeastern provinces and regions to reduce corn planting area. The author believes that since 2008, the bull market feast in which corn output and prices rose together due to state reserve purchases will
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Fertilizer Industry Under Growing Pressure After Agricultural Subsidy Adjustment
Recently, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Adjusting and Improving the Three Agricultural Subsidy Policies", adjusting and improving from 2015 the three subsidy policies: subsidies for improved crop varieties, direct subsidies to grain farmers, and comprehensive subsidies for agricultural inputs. What does this have to do with the fertilizer industry?
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