Corn prices keep falling, but the truth is that Chinese farmers are still running a slight surplus
Introduction: Every year in August, it is the period when new domestic corn has not yet hit the market and the price of old corn rises slightly, but this year domestic corn prices have been sliding all the way down. On September 18, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Agricultural Development Bank and other departments jointly issued a notice that starting in November, the state temporary storage corn listing purchase price will be set at 1 yuan per jin, 0.13 yuan per jin lower than last year's temporary storage price.
Corn purchase prices have fallen 20%, and farmers are holding on to their “grain” and waiting, hoping for a rise!
His name is Wang Jun, and he is an ordinary farmer in Xushui District, Baoding City, Hebei Province. This year his corn harvest was bumper, but the corn purchase price was about 20% lower than in previous years. On this day, Wang Jun again brought two corn cobs from home to a nearby corn purchasing point to check the market.
Head of a grain purchasing point in Xushui District, Baoding City, Hebei Province: For corn like yours, it is probably only around five or six mao.
Seeing that this price was about the same as a few days earlier, Wang Jun felt very disappointed. He took the corn cobs to another corn purchasing point to ask about the market.
Wang Jun, a corn grower in Xushui District, Baoding City, Hebei Province: Compared with last year, the corn price could reach one yuan five or one yuan six, but this year it is only eight mao now, and even at eight mao they still do not want it unless it is good quality.
This year Wang Jun's family planted 17 mu of corn and harvested more than 20,000 jin. At last year's purchase price, they should have earned more than 20,000 yuan, but now the purchase price is 20% lower, and Wang Jun's family income has shrunk considerably.
Wang Jun: Let's see the market price. If it can hold steady for a while and the price is adjusted upward, then I will deal with these.
When the reporter interviewed locally, they learned that many farmers had ideas similar to Wang Jun's. They all hoped corn prices would rise and then they could sell their stored corn at a good price.
Prices are low, grain is hard to sell, and it is hard for all links in the chain to recover payments for agricultural supplies. Farmers' cooperatives are encountering agricultural supply dealers “chasing debts at the field edge.”
This is a routine morning meeting of a farmers' cooperative in Xushui District, Baoding. The person leading the meeting is Ma Haitao, who is also the head of this farmers' cooperative. This farmers' cooperative has been established for four years and had always developed smoothly. However, this year's situation is very different from previous years.
At the routine morning meeting of the farmers' cooperative in Xushui District, Baoding, this year's situation is very different from previous years.
Ma Haitao, head of Zhonghui Farmers' Cooperative in Xushui District, Baoding City, Hebei Province: One issue is that there is still some corn that will not sell, and another is that this year's payment recovery is not ideal. We are still busy working on it.
The cooperative planted a total of 13,000 mu of corn, of which 6,000 mu of silage corn and 5,000 mu of sweet waxy corn have already been sold. Although the price was not high, they at least preserved part of the profit. But the remaining 2,000 mu of field corn has consistently been hard to sell, which gives Ma Haitao a splitting headache. After the regular meeting, hearing that someone was coming to look at his corn, Ma Haitao hurried to the cooperative's grain warehouse.
Grain buyer: The moisture is too high. Right now the moisture can reach 27 or 28 points. After taking it back, there is no way to handle it and it still has to be dried. You see, three mao eight. If three mao eight is suitable, I will take all of this.
Ma Haitao: All right, let us discuss it, okay, we will discuss it and then talk again.
Although he said he would go back and discuss it, in his heart Ma Haitao had actually already rejected this deal, and the reason was of course still that the price was too low.
Ma Haitao: It is definitely not worthwhile. Three mao eight (with cob) is basically a loss.
Ma Haitao rejected this grain purchasing deal because the price was too low.
After coming out of the grain warehouse, Ma Haitao planned to go to the fields to take a look. The workers there reported that the cooperative's sprinkler irrigation equipment had run into problems again. Repairing the sprinkler irrigation equipment would cost tens of thousands of yuan, which made Ma Haitao even more anxious.
Ma Haitao said that thanks to the cooperative's large-scale operation and mechanized operation, the land could be fully utilized, and the cooperative's operating efficiency had always been good, but no one had anticipated this year's corn market.
Before the sprinkler machine here had even been repaired, debt collectors came to the door.
Agricultural supply dealer: The total is 1.76 million. This is the fertilizer used this season, and this is the seed payment. They all have your signature.
Ma Haitao: Other people have not paid me. When they pay me, I will definitely send it to you.
Agricultural supply dealer: You cannot keep saying that. Give me a time.
Because this year's corn market was poor, some agricultural supply dealers also had difficulty collecting seed and fertilizer payments, and they had no choice but to come to the field edge to press for payment.