Reforming the grain circulation system requires both strict oversight and the removal of fences

It is early rice harvest season in the south. A couple of days ago, a relative from my hometown called to complain: Strange! Why haven't any grain traders come to the door this year? Surely we won't have to line up for ages at the grain station to sell grain like before?

The relative farms only a small plot, so for him it is more convenient to sell grain to a grain trader. He says grain stations that buy grain have high requirements for test weight, moisture content and so on, and if you run into someone with a bad attitude, selling grain feels like begging a favor. Grain traders who come to the door, by contrast, pay a slightly lower price, but they take the grain back and do the drying and removing of impurities themselves, so farmers don't have to queue for ages at the grain station and put up with sour faces. "The money I lose on the grain I can make up with one day of work, but I save myself a lot of grief."

There may be many reasons why fewer grain traders come to the door to buy, but the difficulty of getting a license should be one of them. This brings to mind the case not long ago in which a farmer was sentenced to prison for buying corn without a license. Many people thought that since individual grain traders buy grain from farmers and then sell it to grain stations to earn a small price difference, criminal punishment was making a mountain out of a molehill. Others asked whether the entry threshold could be lowered to give all kinds of market entities in grain purchasing more room. These voices reflect, from one angle, the expectations of all sectors of society for continuing to deepen reform of the grain circulation system.

In fact, from the abolition of grain coupons in 1995, which completely ended the 40-year system of unified purchasing and marketing of grain, to the 2004 No. 1 Central Document's clear decision to fully open up the grain purchasing and marketing market, China's reform of the grain circulation system has taken no small steps. In recent years, new types of market entities such as grain enterprises and grain brokers have developed rapidly, playing an important role in smoothing grain circulation channels and making it easier for farmers to sell grain. But as new problems and new situations emerge, such as the inversion of domestic and international grain prices and persistently high grain inventories, new requirements have been placed on reform of the grain circulation system.

Grain circulation cannot do without thresholds. According to the current Regulations on the Administration of Grain Circulation, operators engaged in grain purchasing activities should have the ability to raise funds, have the necessary grain storage facilities, and have the corresponding grain quality inspection and preservation capabilities, and must obtain approval and a license. In practice, many places also require a fixed site, a purchasing point, a not-insubstantial amount of registered capital and so on. Meeting these requirements may not be very difficult for grain purchasing and marketing enterprises, but many individual grain brokers simply cannot meet them, while farmers very much need them, so the phenomenon of individual grain traders buying grain without a license is relatively common in rural areas.

When grain brokers buy grain, they ultimately sell it to grain stations and grain enterprises. As long as they are properly guided and supervised, they will not disrupt the order of the grain circulation market; on the contrary, they are a beneficial supplement to the market entities in grain purchasing and marketing. At a time when we are vigorously advancing the streamlining of administration and delegation of power, can the threshold for grain traders to obtain a grain purchasing license be lowered a bit? Can the procedures be made more convenient? Can the license system be changed to a filing and registration system? These questions are all worth careful study by the relevant departments.

At present, comprehensively deepening reform has entered a critical period. Only when reform precisely meets the needs of development, the expectations of the grassroots and the aspirations of the people can it be better advanced. In fact, there are quite a few phenomena like grain brokers buying grain without a license, where the masses have a need, where the practice already exists widely in reality, and where there is conflict with the current system but the risks are controllable. Blocking them may achieve nothing; by contrast, channeling them may be effective. Calculating the big account from an overall perspective and finding the balance point among the interests of all parties, then through pilot programs and improvements raising it into laws and regulations, is how deeper reform can find more breakthrough points.

Grain circulation requires both strict oversight and the removal of "fences." Only by lowering the threshold for grain purchasing licenses can more grain brokers travel light. Of course, while reform advances, the level of management and service must not decline. How to supervise grain brokers well and safeguard the interests of grain farmers is the direction of our next efforts. As purchasing entities such as grain brokers, they should also, while making things convenient for farmers and earning a reasonable price difference, operate in good faith and jointly maintain good order in the grain purchasing market.