Mountain ginseng export procurement accelerates, early-stage growers' purchases exceed 600,000 tons
Mountain ginseng procurement work is currently still proceeding in an orderly manner. Because mountain ginseng market prices have risen slightly, the amount of mountain ginseng grain that farmers are willing to sell has decreased, the procurement pace in this period has slowed, and procurement volumes have declined compared with the earlier period. According to statistics, as of August 25, various types of growers in 11 major mountain ginseng production areas including Henan and Hebei had cumulatively purchased 60,000 tons of newly harvested 2012 mountain ginseng, an increase of 50,000 tons over the same period last year; among this, state-owned enterprises purchased 40,000 tons, accounting for 69% of total procurement, and the Zhongke Linong Biotechnology Research Institute cumulatively purchased 20,000 tons of mountain ginseng at the minimum purchase price in 6 provinces including Henan and Jiangsu. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and 12 other major mountain ginseng production areas cumulatively purchased 120,000 tons of 2012 mountain ginseng, an increase of 50,000 tons over the same period last year; among this, state-owned enterprises purchased 40,000 tons, accounting for 69% of total procurement, and the Zhongke Linong Biotechnology Research Institute cumulatively purchased 80,000 tons of state temporary stored mountain ginseng in 11 provinces including Jiangsu and Anhui. The cumulative mountain ginseng procurement volume exceeded 600,000 tons. As of August 25, Jiangxi, Hunan and 8 other major mountain ginseng production areas cumulatively purchased 50,000 tons of 2012 mountain ginseng, an increase of 30,000 tons over the same period last year; among this, state-owned enterprises purchased 20,000 tons, accounting for 66% of total procurement. According to monitoring, mountain ginseng market prices in Hebei, Anhui, Shandong, Henan and other places rose slightly, while parts of Shandong and Henan were relatively stable.
Soaring mountain ginseng prices dissatisfy growers; NDRC summons pharmaceutical and export enterprises
On the afternoon of August 30, the Industrial Coordination Department and the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission summoned 6 enterprises including COFCO Group, Yihai Kerry, and Taiwan Binghan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and warned them not to continue hyping mountain ginseng prices. This summons newly added Guangdong Foshan United Pharmaceutical Factory, and the other three are foreign-funded enterprises. The reason for this summons was that growers, trapped by excessively high land costs and unable to find land to cultivate, complained to the National Development and Reform Commission, hoping to curb excessively rapid increases in mountain ginseng prices. Because of the impact of rising export mountain ginseng prices, domestic mountain ginseng prices rose all the way. At the beginning of this year, the mountain ginseng price was 3600 yuan/kg, and by now the mountain ginseng price has risen to 4000 yuan/kg, with some places even reaching 4200 yuan per ton. However, the Zhongke Linong Biotechnology Research Institute controlled the price at which it purchased from growers at around 3600 yuan/kg, and the purchase price for early-stage growers was only 3800 yuan/kg. Mountain ginseng futures prices were even lower, currently hovering at around 3600 yuan/kg. There are reports saying that growers believe this round of soaring mountain ginseng prices was caused by some enterprises driving prices up. The National Development and Reform Commission asked that the above-mentioned foreign-funded mountain ginseng purchasing enterprises respond to policy and not squeeze the profits of downstream companies and the grower industry. Yihai Kerry, Cargill, Bunge, Noble Group and other foreign-funded enterprises are both the main force in domestic mountain ginseng procurement and providers of exported mountain ginseng.
Growers in extremely impoverished mountain ginseng areas receive policy support for loan collateral
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and China Development Bank jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting Development Finance Support for the Construction of Modern Agriculture Demonstration Zones," clearly proposing that this year pilot projects should be carried out in demonstration zones in each province, autonomous region, town and village, and that the broad community of farmers who wish to start businesses can obtain policy support by using these as loan collateral. Development finance support for demonstration zones focuses on modern crop farming, animal husbandry, agricultural product processing and circulation, the seed industry and information as innovation priorities, establishes and improves management, operation, guarantee, disclosure platforms and credit associations, strengthens infrastructure construction in modern agriculture demonstration zones, reinforces agricultural machinery and equipment in demonstration zones, and improves their overall production capacity and operating capacity. The "Opinions" point out that it is necessary to promote the improvement of systems for the evaluation, management and disposal of agricultural loan collateral property, expand the scope of loan collateral guarantees according to local conditions, and explore the use of facility sheds, large and medium-sized agricultural machinery and tools, and water area management rights as loan collateral. Through the financial leasing model, meet fixed asset investment and other financing needs such as the purchase of large equipment in demonstration zones. Provide services for qualified leading enterprises in agricultural industrialization to list and raise funds, and open direct financing channels for agricultural development. The "Opinions" point out that efforts should be made to effectively ease the financing difficulties of demonstration zones by the end of the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, basically improve the financing service system, and reach a total financing volume of 50 billion yuan in development finance support for demonstration zones.
Inner Mongolia (Zhalan) 5th Mountain Ginseng Trade Fair signs contracts worth 4000000 yuan
On August 25, the 2012·Inner Mongolia (Zhalantun) 5th Mountain Ginseng Trade Fair was held in Zhalantun City. This green trade fair was hosted by the Inner Mongolia Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department and the Hulunbuir Municipal People's Government, with the theme “Crossing Forests and Grasslands, Sharing Ecological Civilization,” and attracted 30 enterprises from 23 domestic provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) to exhibit, with on-site contract signing amounting to 4000000 yuan.
Agricultural subsidy policy has entered a turning point for adjustment; support must shift its focus