Why is food the most important yet the least valuable

Recently, Huang Yanxin, deputy director of the Department of Economic Management of the Ministry of Agriculture, said at a conference: food is less valuable than mineral water, which is unfair and unreasonable. He suggested that the state should raise the minimum purchase price of food year by year.

Food is the most important yet the least valuable, and the reason is simple: it is the trouble caused by unified state pricing. In order to ensure CPI and protect the interests of consumers, China has established a huge grain purchase and storage system. On the one hand, it sets grain prices uniformly through the state; on the other hand, it regulates changes in market grain prices through purchasing, storage and releasing reserves. Under such a price regulation mechanism, there is basically very little room for grain prices to rise.

Among all agricultural products at present, grain is the least profitable. Its value is not reflected in the price, which shows that China's current grain pricing mechanism has problems.

A linkage mechanism should be established to find a reasonable level for grain prices among the closest factors affecting grain prices, rather than only a small increase of 5% each year.

Of course, if there is concern that rising grain prices will affect inflation, subsidies to grain-growing farmers can be increased. Subsidies to low-income urban groups can also be increased. In this way, grain prices can be kept in a normal operating state.