Why corn in Heilongjiang is cheaper than in Jilin, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia

From the perspective of price, corn prices in the Heilongjiang region of Northeast China are indeed somewhat lower than corn prices in other provinces; even Jilin and Liaoning, which along with Heilongjiang make up the three provinces of Northeast China, have somewhat lower prices as well. The most critical factor here, in my personal view, is still the demand issue; as the saying goes, supply determines price. So let us now look at the corn supply situation in Northeast China.

Everyone is probably fairly clear that Northeast China, as our country's commercial grain production base, ranks among the top in China in both quality and output, and Heilongjiang province in Northeast China in particular ranks among the very best nationwide in grain output. Northeast China mainly produces soybeans and corn, and thus corn has also become our country's largest main producing region.

Each year, in terms of provinces, Heilongjiang in Northeast China ranks first nationwide in corn output. Therefore, Heilongjiang in Northeast China is also the province least short of corn; if even Heilongjiang in Northeast China were short of corn, then other regions of our country would likely face an even greater shortage of corn demand.

As for corn deep-processing enterprises, Shandong is the most concentrated area, which is to say that corn is shipped from the north to the south; in this way, the closer to Shandong, the relatively higher the corn price. This is because only in areas densely populated with corn deep-processing enterprises can supply become tighter. And Heilongjiang, where corn supply is relatively loose, happens to be located in the northernmost direction of our country, so when grain is transported, grain prices in the south become even higher.

It can be expected that, with the deepening of our country's supply-side structural reform of grain, there will be more and more corn deep-processing enterprises in Northeast China in the future; in this way, Northeast China will also shift in the future from a supply position to a consumption region. By then, this price gap caused by transport costs will also gradually narrow. And farmers in the Heilongjiang region of Northeast China will also be able to gain more economic benefits from this.