New Wheat Purchase Policy Implemented, Farmers' Income Guaranteed

Editor's note:

Affected by the domestic macroeconomic situation and the supply-demand relationship for wheat, the market price of new wheat has been running weak this year. Driven by the minimum purchase price policy, the price has generally risen slightly while remaining stable, but quality differentiation is obvious, and the purchase volume has dropped sharply compared with the same period last year. This year's new wheat purchase market situation is relatively complex: in parts of Anhui and other provinces, poor-quality wheat is currently difficult to sell; in Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu and other places, there are also problems such as inadequate implementation of the minimum purchase price policy, which has affected farmers' income from grain growing. Relevant parties should take practical measures to ensure grain farmers' income.

Wheat with excessive unsound kernels falls into a “selling difficulty”

Fuyang: Relaxing local reserve grain purchase standards

Our reporter Yang Dandan

It is now the tail end of the summer grain purchase season in Anhui Province, yet in Daxu Village, Liugou Town, Funan County, Fuyang City, major grain grower Xu Ziyun can only sigh as he looks at the more than 3 million jin of wheat piled up in his own warehouse. “Because the quality is not up to standard, it cannot enter the grain depot. If it still cannot be sold, it can only be sold at a low price to an alcohol plant or a feed plant.” Xu Ziyun said that this year he transferred 4,500 mu of land in Daxu Village to grow wheat, and during the wheat harvest he encountered continuous overcast and rainy weather, causing indicators such as the proportion of unsound kernels in the wheat to fail to meet standards, so the state-owned grain depot would not accept it. At present, of the 3.5 million jin of wheat harvested, only 300,000 jin has been sold.

The reporter learned that this year, in some counties and cities along the Huai River in Anhui, affected by rainy weather during the harvest period, wheat quality was generally not high and difficult to bring up to the national minimum standard for minimum purchase price wheat procurement. There are quite a few major grain growers like Xu Ziyun who have fallen into “difficulty selling grain.” At the same time, many grain depots also face “difficulty purchasing grain” because wheat quality does not meet standards, and the progress of summer grain procurement is clearly lagging.

Farmers' “difficulty selling grain” coexists with grain stations' “difficulty purchasing grain”

It is understood that during the wheat maturity and harvest period in Fuyang City this year, there were 3 rainfall events in succession, causing the proportion of unsound kernels in wheat to increase noticeably, mainly shown as brown-skinned kernels, raised or cracked seed coats at the wheat embryo, and sprouting. From the south of Fuyang to the north, due to different harvest times, the disaster situation gradually eased.

After the 800 mu of wheat grown by Ren Xinhu, a farmer in Yuanzhai Town, Yingdong District, Fuyang City, was harvested, sprouts appeared. He blew the wheat clean and dried it, then sent it to the local grain station for sale. The grain station staff refused to purchase it on the grounds that the wheat quality was too poor, so Ren Xinhu had to transport the wheat back home.

According to the person in charge of the Funan County Grain Bureau, more than 90% of the wheat in Funan County this year failed to meet the national minimum purchase standard. Official data from Funan County show that the county harvested a total of 410,000 tons of wheat this year, and as of now more than 300,000 tons of wheat is still in the hands of wheat farmers and grain brokers, with 70% of the county's wheat stuck in unsold inventory. The county is actively contacting food processing enterprises to purchase it, but with little effect.

Faced with low-quality wheat, grain stations as purchasing units are equally anxious. According to relevant personnel from the Yingdong State Grain Reserve Depot in Chahua Town, Yingdong District, Fuyang City, the depot planned to purchase 22,000 tons of wheat this year, but only 4,900 tons has entered the depot so far. Many farmers hauled their grain from far away to the grain depot only to have it returned, whereas in previous years at this time wheat procurement had already been fully completed.

On July 6, Fuyang City made a special report to the Anhui Provincial People's Government on this year's difficulties in summer grain procurement. The report stated that according to current national regulations, wheat with an unsound kernel proportion exceeding 10% may not be included in policy-based procurement, so most of the city's wheat cannot enter the national grain depots. In addition, with the wheat market sluggish and prices declining, it is difficult for farmers to sell poor-quality wheat, and it is difficult for the grain department to purchase wheat that meets national quality standards. This “dilemma” has had a relatively large impact on wheat procurement work.

State-owned grain depots will purchase, with open storage, wheat that meets standards after cleaning

The reporter learned that in addition to Fuyang, “difficulty selling grain” has occurred to varying degrees in parts of eastern, western and northern Anhui.

In response to the problem of a relatively high proportion of unsound kernels in wheat in some areas, the General Office of the Anhui Provincial Government issued an emergency notice in mid-June, providing screening services for farmers selling wheat with excessive unsound kernels on the basis of respecting farmers' wishes, and promptly purchasing and storing it after cleaning brings it up to standard. The Anhui Provincial Department of Finance urgently allocated special funds for grain stations in various places to purchase grain cleaning equipment.

In response to the prominent problems existing in summer grain procurement, Fuyang City has introduced specific measures to ease public sentiment and reduce public losses to the greatest extent:

Fully leverage the main-channel role of state-owned grain enterprises, promptly relax local reserve grain purchase standards (unsound kernel content within 15%), and give priority to arranging local reserve grain purchases. Provide free wheat drying and screening services for farmers selling grain, purchase grain that meets standards after cleaning with open storage points, and achieve full purchase of what should be purchased. Strictly enforce grain procurement discipline and resolutely put an end to violations such as “issuing IOUs,” “circulating grain,” and “secondary invoicing.”

Actively mobilize social forces to participate in procurement. On the one hand, encourage local processing enterprises, feed enterprises, breeding enterprises, industrial grain users and others to purchase wheat with excessive unsound kernels from farmers at appropriate market prices, and provide them with necessary procurement loan support; on the other hand, extensively contact out-of-town merchants and adopt various methods such as joint purchasing and entrusted purchasing and storage to broaden wheat sales channels.

Voices from survey points

Hebei: Market purchasing enthusiasm has declined

Judging from the current situation, the purchasing enthusiasm of enterprises in Hebei Province is basically unchanged from last year, feed enterprises are not purchasing due to price factors, and it is expected that minimum purchase price procurement will be difficult to launch.

Overall, affected by factors such as this year's bumper wheat harvest, current grain stocks in storage enterprises and processing enterprises being higher than usual, relatively large downward pressure on the current economic situation, and the national minimum purchase price remaining unchanged, it is expected that this year's new wheat market purchasing attitude will be more cautious and purchasing enthusiasm will decline.

Liu Xia, Market and Economic Information Division, Hebei Provincial Department of Agriculture