Why is it imperative to improve the economic benefits of grain?

At present, China's grain sector shows the characteristics of a phased and structural surplus, with supply and demand not matching and the supply-demand balance of certain varieties disrupted. Advancing supply-side structural reform of grain and promoting the transformation and development of the grain industry to improve quality and efficiency are important measures for enhancing the competitiveness of the grain industry.

Since 2004, China's grain output has achieved "twelve consecutive increases," and it is expected that in 2016 China's total grain output will exceed 600 million tons for the fourth consecutive year. With successive years of bumper harvests and abundant grain sources, grain and oil products are sufficient in quantity and diverse in variety, but they still cannot adapt to the new requirements of the upgrading of the consumption structure. As people's living standards rise and their quality of life improves, they pay more attention to the nutrition, healthfulness, greenness and safety of grain products. While the traditional extensive grain industry economy is relatively sluggish, with declining profit levels and some even operating at a loss, some grain processing enterprises oriented toward diversification, personalization, customization and branding have shown good momentum and relatively high economic returns.

Facing changes in market demand, although the development of China's grain industry is still in difficulty, it also faces unprecedented development opportunities. In the current increasingly competitive market environment, for China's grain industry to improve economic benefits, it is necessary both to promote the transformation and development of the grain industry, improve quality and efficiency, and work hard to enhance the market competitiveness of grain products, and to work hard to deepen the reform of the grain circulation system and improve the operating mechanisms of the grain market.

First, it is necessary to actively and steadily advance large-scale grain operations. Grain is a commodity with high supply elasticity and low demand elasticity: when the market price of grain rises slightly, the quantity supplied may increase greatly, while demand decreases only slightly; conversely, when the market price of grain falls slightly, the quantity supplied may decrease greatly, while demand increases only slightly. One effective way to address the lag in grain supply's response to grain demand is for grain product operations to take the path of large-scale operation. In the production link, strengthen the construction of grain planting bases, adopt methods such as land equity participation, production cooperation and company-driven development, gradually change the current traditional grain production and operation model of smallholder production by individual households, expand the scale of grain production and operation, improve grain production efficiency and reduce the unit cost of grain production. In the circulation link, innovate and improve the grain purchase, storage and management model, establish grain purchase, storage, drying and processing service centers, provide farmers with timely drying services and improve the ability to preserve grain quality and freshness. At the same time, it is necessary to actively develop diversified grain operations, innovate business models, develop new forms of business such as "Internet + grain," and guide agricultural operating entities to extend the industrial chain into fields such as agricultural technical services, logistics, processing, elderly care and sightseeing tourism, and develop leisure agriculture and the experience economy.

Second, it is necessary to rely on scientific and technological innovation to improve the nutritional quality of grain. Supply-side structural reform of grain does not mean that there is a problem with the demand for grain; rather, the products supplied by the grain sector do not adapt to consumer demand, and the structure needs to be adjusted through scientific and technological innovation. Through technological innovation, advance the transformation "from grain head to food tail." Taking "nutritious, healthy, good-tasting and eaten well" as the development goal, actively promote the development of deeply processed foods such as rice and flour products, develop rich and diverse rice and flour products, and meet people's diversified needs at different levels. Work hard on the nutritional and health quality of grain products, refine the categories of grain products, reduce nutrient loss and guide healthy consumption. It is necessary to optimize process parameters, reasonably control processing precision, establish a concept of healthy consumption and change the excessive consumption tendency of one-sidedly pursuing "refined," "fine" and "white" products. Improve production processes, reduce the number of times rice is polished and eliminate backward production capacity in the grain processing industry. Strengthen source management and accelerate the construction of a grain quality and safety traceability system. Strengthen the construction of a grain quality and safety risk assessment and early warning system and improve the level of grain quality and safety.

Third, it is necessary to improve the market-based operating mechanisms of grain. From international experience, the world's major developed countries have adopted support and protection policy measures for the development of the grain industry at different historical stages, but the orientation of market-based grain reform is an effective way to improve the economic benefits of grain and enhance competitiveness. What urgently needs to be solved at present is, on the basis of improving the temporary purchase and storage policy for corn, to further improve the price formation mechanism for staple grains such as wheat and rice. Strengthen the role of market mechanisms, form a reasonable linkage mechanism between domestic and international grain prices and change the phenomena of "strong rice, weak milled rice" and "strong wheat, weak flour." On the basis of piloting target prices for cotton and soybeans, explore the establishment of a domestic grain support and protection policy system in which staple grain prices are linked with insurance, costs, subsidies and international market prices. Improve the mechanism for regulating grain purchase, storage and release, comprehensively consider factors such as the structure and quality of grain stocks and market demand, flexibly use various methods such as auction sales, targeted sales, invited-bid sales and rotation sales, reasonably determine sales prices and scientifically arrange the pace and order of stock sales.

Of course, market-based grain operations cannot be separated from enterprise entities. It is necessary to actively promote the whole-industrial-chain development model and cultivate a group of comprehensive enterprise groups integrating grain production, warehousing, logistics, processing and trade; highlight comparative advantages and build a group of "high-grade, precision and advanced" specialized enterprise groups. Vigorously cultivate leading industrial groups, form a joint force for "going global," actively participate in the international division of labor in grain and the reconstruction of the industrial chain, and enhance competitiveness, influence and discourse power in the international grain market.