State Administration of Grain: Preparations for autumn grain purchases basically complete
Reporters learned on the 9th from the State Administration of Grain that the State Administration of Grain recently held a national autumn grain purchase work conference in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, to arrange and deploy the purchase work. At present, preparations in various regions are basically complete, and the autumn grain purchase work, the highlight of the year's grain purchases, is being rolled out one after another.
The State Administration of Grain disclosed that mid-to-late indica rice purchases got off to a good start. At present, newly harvested mid-to-late indica rice in the south has hit the market, and Anhui, Sichuan and Hubei provinces have activated the minimum purchase price implementation plan for mid-to-late rice. According to statistics, as of September 30, 6 main producing areas including Jiangsu had purchased a total of 2.9 billion jin of mid-to-late indica rice, an increase of 800 million jin year-on-year.
The temporary purchase and storage policy for corn was announced. With the approval of the State Council, the temporary corn purchase and storage policy will continue to be implemented this year in the three northeastern provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The State Administration of Grain stated that it had recently, together with relevant departments, jointly issued the Notice on Issues Concerning the State Temporary Storage Corn Purchase in Northeast China in 2015. This year's temporary corn storage purchase began on November 1, with a listed purchase price of 1 yuan/jin. Sinograin is the main body implementing the policy, while COFCO Group, China National Textile and Apparel Council and AVIC International Holding Corporation serve as supplementary forces and, entrusted by Sinograin, undertake the purchase and storage tasks. At the same time, this year's temporary corn purchase and storage will strictly implement national quality standards. Corn that fails to meet the quality requirements stipulated will be purchased under the organization of local governments.
The State Administration of Grain also introduced on the 9th the progress of summer grain purchases. This year, China's summer grain output reached a new high, reaching 282.1 billion jin, an increase of 8.9 billion jin year-on-year. At the same time, summer grain purchase work in main producing areas progressed smoothly.
According to statistics, as of September 30, 11 main producing areas including Hebei had purchased a total of 132.6 billion jin of wheat, a decrease of 14.6 billion jin year-on-year; 8 main producing areas including Jiangxi had purchased a total of 15.9 billion jin of early indica rice, a decrease of 1.1 billion jin year-on-year. The main reason for the lower purchases is that continuous rain during harvest in some areas led to a relatively large number of wheat grains failing to meet standards.
Market-support purchases of wheat and early indica rice were launched on a large scale. In May, the State Administration of Grain, together with relevant departments, jointly issued the Notice on the 2015 Implementation Plan for Minimum Purchase Prices for Wheat and Rice. The plans for wheat, early indica rice and mid-to-late rice were integrated into a “three-in-one” plan, and the minimum purchase price levels were flat compared with the previous year, namely wheat 1.18 yuan/jin, early indica rice 1.35 yuan/jin, mid-to-late indica rice 1.38 yuan/jin, and japonica rice 1.55 yuan/jin (all referring to national standard grade three).
It is reported that 6 provinces including Jiangsu, Hubei, Anhui, Henan, Shandong and Hebei all activated the minimum purchase price plan for wheat, and 4 provinces including Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei activated the minimum purchase price plan for early indica rice. In addition, Xinjiang also activated state temporary storage wheat purchases.