Policy grain purchases hit a new high in 2015, reaching 175 million tonnes
The 2016 Central Grain Reserves Work Conference was held in Beijing on the 5th. According to the relevant person in charge of Sinograin, in 2015 Sinograin purchased a total of 175 million tonnes of policy grain for the whole year, exceeding the 100-million-tonne scale for the third consecutive year and setting a new record high, giving full play to its role as the main force in purchasing and storage. Over the year, 18.5 million tonnes of policy grain were auctioned, and the task of moving 3 million tonnes across provinces was completed efficiently, one month ahead of the required deadline. The results of the 2015 national grain inventory inspection and other checks on the quantity and quality of stored grain organized by the relevant state departments showed that the central-government-authority grain managed by Sinograin had a 100% match rate between accounts and physical stock, and the suitability-for-storage rate of central grain reserves remained above 95%, making it “reassuring grain”.
⟦NL> The person in charge said that in 2015 policy purchasing faced a complex situation including sluggish demand in the grain market, tight warehouse capacity for policy purchasing, and grain quality exceeding standards in some areas. Sinograin generally adopted the “two blows and two screenings” process, and grain quality improved noticeably. During purchasing, Sinograin actively pushed forward with improving the policy purchasing and storage mechanism, studied and issued enterprise classification risk prevention and control measures and standards for mortgage guarantee procedures, promoted the “one-card” system, completed its rollout at 3,556 commissioned purchasing depots, and achieved full coverage of autumn grain purchasing and storage depots in Northeast China in 2015, effectively preventing violations of purchasing policy through institutional and technical means.
Facing the current serious shortage of warehouse capacity, Sinograin, with strong state support, fully implemented a three-year plan for major repairs, warehouse construction and investment in science and technology, adding 16.8 billion yuan in fixed asset investment. It carried out 187 central investment projects and built 23.1 billion jin of warehouse capacity, twice the scale of the first four years of the “12th Five-Year Plan”. Construction units across the system implemented projects with extraordinary intensity, organizing project construction efficiently, safely and in a standardized way. Some projects in Heilongjiang and Jilin were started, completed and filled with grain in the same year, directly serving autumn grain purchasing.
As the price gap between new and old grain has widened continuously in recent years, central and local grain reserve enterprises at all levels face losses in the rotation of some varieties. Facing difficulties in rotation operations, Sinograin promoted large-scale, specialized operations by variety. By the end of 2015, the completion rate of the 2014 rotation plan for central grain reserves was 99.8%, and implementation of the 2015 rotation plan was better than expected, effectively achieving the established goals of rotating what must be rotated and controlling and reducing losses.