Chapter 29 3. The new pattern of China's grain reform

It is a key policy and a key link of the central government's reform of the grain circulation system to openly purchase farmers' surplus grain at protective prices.This policy is not only a major measure to protect the interests of farmers and ensure farmers' increased production and income in the event of a bumper harvest, but also a long-term fundamental policy for the state to protect and support agriculture. Our country has a lot of people, little land, and lack of water resources. The continuous increase of food production is seriously restricted by natural conditions. With the development of economy and society, my country's demand for food will continue to increase.Therefore, just because the agricultural harvest has been bumper for several years in a row, we must not think that the grain has passed the customs, so as to relax the grain production.To do a good job in grain production, the key is to protect farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain.In this regard, we also have a profound lesson.In the past 20 years, the repeated "difficulty in selling grain" and "IOUs" have severely dampened farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain, so that farmers in many places would rather let the land be vacant than plant their own rations and order grain. Willing to eat more food.Only by opening the purchase of farmers' surplus grain at a protective price can we truly protect farmers' income from growing grain and promote the steady growth of grain production.

At the same time, it is also necessary for state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises to control grain sources and gradually increase profits by purchasing surplus grain from farmers at protective prices.Some state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises in some places were unable to sell at the right price and incurred new losses. An important reason was that they did not truly implement open purchases, causing some farmers to sell grain at low prices to private traders, resulting in the loss of grain sources.Since private traders buy and sell grain at low prices, the price of grain sold is low.In order to protect the interests of farmers, state-owned grain purchase and storage companies generally collect grain at a purchase price and a protection price higher than the price collected by private traders, and the selling price is higher.If the purchase is not open, private businesses will gain a competitive advantage by collecting grain at a low price, weakening the initiative and competitiveness of state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises to sell at the right price.Judging from the situation in some places, the loss of some grain sources in a region during a peak purchasing season may often cause serious difficulties for state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises in this region and other places to sell at a reasonable price.State-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises are truly open to purchase at protective prices. Once they have mastered grain sources, they can take a dominant position in guiding market prices and gradually realize sales at fair prices.Therefore, openly purchasing surplus grain from farmers at protective prices is not only a policy to protect the interests of farmers, but also an important measure to promote the normal operation of state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises.

The open purchase of surplus grain from farmers at the protective price is to collect as much surplus grain from farmers as they sell at the protective price.State-owned grain purchasing and storage enterprises cannot refuse, stop or limit harvesting.Grain with high water content and poor quality should also be harvested, but seasonal price differences and quality price differences can be implemented, and water and miscellaneous items can be deducted reasonably according to regulations.At the same time, it is absolutely impossible to give farmers "white notes", but must insist on household settlement, and pay grain sales money to farmers immediately.

The 98 New Grain Reform has undergone two inspections on the purchase of summer grain and autumn grain. From the perspective of the national situation, the policy of openly purchasing surplus grain from farmers has mostly been well implemented.In the case of grain harvests for three consecutive years and the general shortage of warehouse capacity, all localities have used their brains to build a batch of warehouses before the purchase of summer grain to ensure open purchases. On the basis of linking loans with loans and closed operation of funds, we will fully support the grain sector in opening up their purchases.Henan Province has prepared more than 1 million kilograms of storage capacity to solve the problem of new grain storage.The Anhui provincial government announced the purchase price to the farmers before the summer grain was weighed. At the same time, it asked the grain stations in all regions to adhere to the "eight prohibitions" principles such as "no deductions, no lower grades and lower prices, and no IOUs", and sent a news interview team to investigate the purchase situation. Conduct open and unannounced visits.The Agricultural Development Bank of Hubei Province made it clear that on the premise of ensuring the closed operation of funds, the grain department will provide as much loans as the amount of grain purchased in a timely manner, and will not issue IOUs to farmers.The low grain price and the "difficulty in selling grain" that have plagued farmers for many years have finally been effectively resolved. The knots in their hearts have disappeared, and the enthusiasm of farmers for growing grain has risen again. Since 1995, after successive years of bumper wheat harvests in Zhumadian, Henan Province, the market price has plummeted, and the interests of farmers have been severely damaged, and many farmers have abandoned their fields. After the introduction of the policy of openly purchasing surplus grain from farmers in 1998, farmers were reassured, and their enthusiasm for growing grain was once again high. Those who went out to work came back, and the abandoned cultivated land was planted with grain again, and farmers' investment also increased significantly.

Any enterprise or individual who does business will never be willing to trade at a loss.However, the grain circulation system that does not distinguish between government and enterprises has created some state-owned grain enterprises that do "trading at a loss".They sold the purchased grain at a price lower than the purchase price, lost money, and hung it with the bank to let the state pay the bill to fill the hole. This is the drawback of the old system. The state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises eat the "big pot" of the central government. They not only spend money openly, but also sell the grain purchased and stored at a low price, causing huge losses and misappropriating a large amount of grain purchase funds. Overwhelmed the country's finances and banks.The reform of the grain circulation system this time is to completely change this situation, avoid new losses, gradually increase profits, and digest losses.To achieve this task, state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises must insist on selling grain at a fair price.Only in this way can the state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises be constrained from the policy not to engage in loss-making operations, not to incur new losses, and to gradually increase profits; can we truly sell a catty of grain with interest and pay back a catty of grain, and ensure that the grain The acquisition funds are closed.That is to say, the sale of grain at a reasonable price is not only an important grain reform policy that must be implemented, but also a key measure for state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises to prevent new losses.

After the National Grain Circulation System Reform Work Conference formulated the price-based sales policy, most regions across the country began to sell grain at the end of May and early June without losing money and making a slight profit.In many places, the price of grain in the market began to pick up a day or two after the sale at the normal price, which to a considerable extent curbed the price of grain in the market that had been declining for a period of time. Information from the grain market in Zhejiang shows that after the implementation of smooth price sales, the price of grain in the province has increased by more than 10%, and the price of rice in the market in Hangzhou has increased by 25%. %; and the "Zhengzhou Grain Wholesale Market", which connects more than 300 grain distribution and processing enterprises in 28 provinces and cities across the country, has seen wheat prices rebound since May. By June 12, the wholesale price of wheat per kilogram had reached It is 0.066 yuan higher than the purchase protection price set by the Henan provincial government.The vast majority of counties and cities in Hunan will list and sell grain at the normal price before June 10. More than 1,500 grain stations in 123 counties and cities (districts) have stopped selling grain at low prices.Food prices in the bazaars rebounded significantly.According to the price monitoring of 14 cities, the market price of early and late indica rice per kilogram has risen by 0.2 to 0.4 yuan respectively compared with the previous period, the market price of high-quality rice has risen by 0.4 to 0.6 yuan, and the price of raw grain has also stopped falling and rebounded.

The price-based sales policy strongly stimulated rice prices, especially after five provinces in the south, including Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guangdong, jointly issued regional purchase and sale prices, the purchase and sale prices of rice in more than a dozen provinces and cities in the south rose successively. In June, the average price of indica rice in the national rice market was 1,946 yuan/ton, up 14.4% from May, and the average price of japonica rice was 2,200 yuan/ton, up 13.52%. In early July, the average price of rice in the national grain and oil market rose sharply again. The rise in rice prices in the south has spread to the grain market in the north, driving corn and wheat prices firmer.

The three northeastern provinces and Inner Mongolia have implemented regional linkage of grain policies, which has had a huge impact on corn prices. In June, the average price of the national corn market was 1,304 yuan/ton, an increase of 1.64% from May. After the prices of wheat in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other six provinces and municipalities in the north were adjusted, the wheat market also rebounded. In June, the average price of the national wheat market was 1346 yuan/ton, which was 0.82% higher than that in May. Industry insiders believe that as long as enterprises and market management maintain the current momentum, the problem of unsatisfactory grain prices can be resolved, and the market price of grain and oil can rise back to a reasonable range.

The rise in food prices is quite common throughout the country, which protects the interests of farmers to a certain extent, and at the same time curbs the huge food losses that have grown rapidly. Although selling at the right price and not doing business at a loss is an extremely simple truth, it is a systematic project to implement. All enterprises must start from the overall interests and cooperate in a unified way to achieve the right price.But in fact, there are still some state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises that sell the grain purchased at the protection price to private traders at a low price for the benefit of small groups, and some even in order to get kickbacks. It is to give up the market to private businessmen.Selling grain at a low price at a loss not only does not sell the grain itself at a fair price, resulting in a loss; but also this part of the low-priced grain flows to private traders, resulting in the loss of new grain sources, which directly affects the fair-price sales of state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises.Therefore, Zhu Rongji issued a deadly order that all parts of the country must act in a unified manner, resolutely implement the policy of flat-price sales, and prevent new losses from occurring.Local party committees and governments at all levels must personally intervene, and seriously investigate and deal with those grain companies that "reverse operations" and sell grain at a low price at a loss and cause serious losses.

The key to smooth price sales is whether we can unify our thinking, coordinate and coordinate, and grasp it to the end. Misappropriation of funds for grain purchases was a prominent problem in the old grain circulation system, which not only led to many unhealthy practices and corruption cases, but also affected grain purchases and operations.In response to this shortcoming, the new grain reform has formulated a policy that grain purchase funds must be operated in a closed manner, thereby fundamentally plugging the loopholes in funding and ensuring the smooth implementation of open purchases and price sales.

The so-called closed operation of grain purchase funds refers to the state-owned grain enterprises engaged in grain purchase and storage. The loans required for the purchase funds are supplied and managed by the Agricultural Development Bank in strict accordance with the principle and method of "linking treasury loans" to grain sales. , full loan repayment" principle.This is not only an important content of the reform of the grain circulation system, but also an important guarantee for the smooth progress of the reform of the grain circulation system. It is very important to deepen the reform of the grain circulation system to do a good job in the supply of grain purchase funds, strengthen the management of grain purchase funds, and ensure the closed operation of grain purchase funds.First, it is conducive to the timely and sufficient supply of purchase funds, and supports the smooth implementation of the policy of openly purchasing farmers' surplus grain at protective prices.If the closed operation cannot be achieved, and the acquisition funds are lost after being invested, the bank will not be able to guarantee the supply of funds, and it will be difficult to open the acquisition at a protective price.Second, it is conducive to the supervision of the price sales of state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises.After the closed operation of funds, the Agricultural Development Bank can timely discover and stop the low-price loss-making behavior of enterprises through account management and settlement.The third is that after the closed operation of grain purchasing and storage enterprises, it can change the situation that enterprises eat from the "big pot" of banks. Enterprises can no longer solve their own various expenses by crowding out and embezzling acquisition loans, thereby prompting enterprises to change their operating mechanisms and improve their management. ,Improve economic efficiency.The fourth is to realize the closed operation of the purchase funds. After the grain enterprises sell at the right price, the enterprises will not suffer losses, and there is no way to continue to squeeze and misappropriate the purchase funds, which is conducive to reducing the pressure on the central bank's base currency injection and reducing the financial burden. After the implementation of the policy of closed operation of grain and oil purchase funds, obvious results were achieved soon.Since April, the Agricultural Development Bank has strengthened the management of purchase funds, strictly following the policy of "how much grain (oil) is collected, how much money is loaned; how much grain (oil) is sold, and how much loan principal and interest is recovered." It not only ensured the timely and full supply of purchase funds, but also prevented the occurrence of new problems of misappropriation of purchase funds, and basically realized the closed operation of purchase funds. This is reflected in the timely and full supply of funds since the summer harvest, and guaranteed the open purchase at a protective price in terms of funds. The policy of surplus grain for farmers was implemented, and the value of the newly issued payment for goods was basically the same as the value of the newly purchased grain and oil.At the same time, the return rate and loan collection rate of grain and oil sales have increased month by month since April, and have basically reached 100% since June.Since all the newly issued loans were used for acquisitions, and part of the loans unreasonably occupied by enterprises in the past was withdrawn, at the end of October, the ratio of grain and oil inventory of enterprises with accounts opened by the Agricultural Development Bank to grain and oil loans reached 60.46%, which was higher than that in June. 2 percentage points.The most obvious effect is that since April, the loss accounts of grain and oil storage enterprises have decreased month by month, and after June, new accounts of current operating losses of acquisition funds have been basically curbed. Since the liberalization of grain prices in 1992, all localities have relaxed the management of the grain market, especially the multi-channel operation of the purchase process, which has caused some individual traders, private enterprises and other enterprises to intervene in the purchase and sale of grain.In 1994, the State Council required all localities that no unit or individual could go directly to the countryside to collect grain before the grain purchases were completed.However, due to unclear policies, incomplete laws and regulations, imperfect management, and the difficulties of grain enterprises themselves, it is still common for non-main channel grain operation enterprises to collect grain in rural areas.In order to save trouble, some farmers also sold their grain cheaply to these enterprises and individuals.Due to the low purchase price of these enterprises, few operating links, low cost, and processing at any time, the finished product direct sales market, the sales price is much lower than the sales price issued by the state in 1996.The lack of competitiveness of state-owned grain enterprises in the market has led to the acquisition of state-owned grain storage enterprises for the sake of acquisition, forming a vicious circle of acquisition, inventory, backlog, and repurchase.The longer the backlog, the greater the cost, the higher the cost, the grain cannot be sold, and the funds cannot be returned.The burden on grain enterprises has increased, and their losses have increased. The chaos in the grain purchase process stems from poor management of the grain market.On the one hand, there is no legal basis for the management of the grain purchase market, and there is no way to start the management; on the other hand, the responsibility for managing the grain market is unclear.The market management right belongs to the industrial and commercial department, but there are few industrial and commercial management personnel, and the management of the grain market is powerless.The deep-seated reason is that some places focus on cultivating the individual and private economy as a new economic growth point, but let their specific business activities go their own way, creating opportunities for grain traders. If the chaotic situation in the grain market remains unchanged, the purchasing market is not unified, and the state does not control grain sources, it will be impossible to talk about price sales, and the reform of the grain circulation system will not be able to proceed smoothly.Therefore, this new grain reform regards strengthening the management of the grain market as an important task, so as to ensure the implementation and implementation of other policies of the grain reform. To strengthen the management of the grain market, the key is to manage the grain purchase process well.The grain produced by farmers can only be purchased by state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises, and non-state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprises are strictly prohibited from directly purchasing from farmers.This plays an important role in ensuring the smooth progress of grain reform, protecting the interests of farmers, and promoting the development of grain production. To this end, the State Council successively promulgated the "Regulations on Grain Purchase" and "Punishment Measures for Illegal Acts of Grain Purchase and Sale", bringing the management of the grain market into the track of legalization.At the same time, local governments are responsible for organizing food, taxation, price, public security, transportation, industry and commerce and other functional management and law enforcement departments to form a joint force to control the food market and ensure the smooth implementation of the food reform. The first to bear the heavy responsibility is the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.As early as after the National Grain Circulation System Reform Work Conference, the bureau made deployments, requiring industrial and commercial administrative departments at all levels to take maintaining the order of grain market purchases as the current top priority, and resolutely prohibit individuals and private businesses from purchasing grain . In November, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued another notice, deciding to carry out a special nationwide campaign to resolutely crack down on illegal grain merchants and maintain the order of grain purchases.The notice confirms that a comprehensive clean-up and rectification will be carried out immediately on the enterprises and individuals engaged in grain business activities.All enterprises and individuals engaged in grain business activities must apply to the local industry and commerce administration, and can only carry out business activities after obtaining a business license after approval.The notice called for rapid mobilization, organizing all forces that can be mobilized, resolutely prohibiting private businessmen and non-state-owned grain purchasing and storage enterprises from purchasing grain in rural areas, and severely cracking down on private businessmen and non-state-owned grain purchasing and storage enterprises going to villages or going to the wharf or roadside 1. The illegal act of setting up listings to purchase grain in the bazaar. The notice also requires that the source of grain entering the grain market must comply with national regulations, and must hold a sales invoice from a state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprise or a certificate of self-sale of grain by a state-owned agricultural or land reclamation enterprise. .For grain transported and sold across counties (cities), a sales invoice with a carrier link must be held by a state-owned grain purchase and storage enterprise or a grain trading market above the county level.At the same time, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce sent three batches of 70 people to form a grain market inspection team to inspect the grain market management in all major grain producing areas across the country. For a time, a grain market law enforcement team composed of multiple departments such as industry and commerce, public security, grain, and taxation haunted the streets and alleys and villages, checking the market and blocking "black grain."An unprecedented clean-up and rectification of the grain market has begun. The grain purchase market inspection teams of cities, prefectures, and counties in Jilin Province focused on inspecting important places such as rural grain purchase points, stations, and docks, organized inspections of the grain sources of large grain sellers in the market, and investigated and dealt with various types of illegal grain purchases with the help of the strong supervision of the masses. There were 262 cases, including 228 cases of illegal purchases of grain by private businesses and non-state-owned grain storage companies, and 34 cases of disguised purchases of grain by individuals and private grain processing companies. A total of 25.68 million tons of illegally purchased grains were confiscated. On November 13, the Jilin City Industrial and Commercial Bureau sealed up 133 tons of rice that was ready to be shipped at the railway station based on reports from the masses.After investigation, it was found that Jilin City Fushan Industrial Co., Ltd. entrusted three rice mills in Wulihe Town, Yongji County to illegally purchase the rice from farmers.Jilin Provincial Bureau of Industry and Commerce confiscated the illegally purchased grain and imposed a fine of 240,000 yuan. On November 24, the grain market inspection team of Jilin Shipyard Industry and Commerce Branch seized more than 180 tons of illegally purchased corn that Tong Yunlong, an unlicensed grain dealer, was transshipping, and fined him 340,000 yuan five times the value of the purchased corn. Liaoning has set up a special grain market management office.In order to control the grain market, they first conducted a comprehensive clean-up of the enterprises engaged in grain purchases. All 14 cities in the province concentrated on completing this work before the full purchase of autumn grains.In Tieling City, there were 154 original enterprises engaged in grain purchases, and only qualified grain purchase and storage enterprises were retained, and 1,041 grain wholesale enterprises were registered for change.More than 240 grain management enterprises in Panjin City who did not have the qualifications for purchasing, storage and processing were cleared out of the "team".At the same time, the province's industry and commerce, grain, and public security departments also deployed a large number of personnel to form an inspection team, and implemented the method of splitting and contracting by leaders and functional departments to conduct inspections on individual and private grain collection and storage points, road markets, and bazaars. Strict inspection.Nearly 300,000 kilograms of illegally purchased grain were confiscated. The industry and commerce system of Ningxia Autonomous Region gave full play to the role of the grain inspection team. With the strong cooperation of the grain, public security, price and news propaganda departments, a comprehensive inspection was carried out on the links of grain purchase, storage, processing, and distribution in rural areas, especially in bazaars. 178 cases of illegal grain purchases were investigated and dealt with, 1.12 million kilograms of illegally purchased grains were seized, more than 1,000 illegal grain purchase sites were banned according to law, and a number of cases of illegal grain purchases investigated and dealt with were exposed.Chengguan Grain and Oil Company of Pingluo County and Dashuikeng Grain Store of Lingwu Grain Bureau, non-purchase and storage enterprises, illegally engaged in grain procurement activities in different places, and were fined, revoked their business licenses, and confiscated illegally purchased grain.Li Hongzhang, a farmer in Zhongning County, bought more than 10,000 kilograms of rice at the Zhongning Grain Trading Market without approval. On the way to Shaanxi for sale, he was seized and sentenced to compulsory purchase of his illegally obtained rice and a fine.The brothers Liu Guojun and Liu Guobing, farmers in Zhongwei County, blatantly and illegally purchased and trafficked grain, refused to accept the inspection during the inspection by the enforcement personnel, beat and injured the grain market manager, confiscated 6,000 kilograms of illegally trafficked rice, and fined 36,000 yuan. The judiciary will also pursue its criminal responsibility. Shaanxi investigated and dealt with a number of major cases of internal and external collusion, illegal purchase and trafficking of grain, and a number of grain station cadres and industrial and commercial cadres who ignored the national grain reform policy and provided convenience for grain traffickers were dismissed, dismissed, and fined. On November 11, the Bureau of Industry and Commerce of Baoji City seized 244 tons of corn purchased by three private traders at the train station. Several state-owned grain enterprises and grain management departments in Jintai, Meixian, Fufeng, and Qishan counties came forward Recognize as the owner of the goods, or provide legal grain transaction certificates for private traders.Relevant responsible persons were subject to dismissal, delisting and other punishments.Li Simin, an employee of the Mahu Grain Station in Pucheng County, handed over the purchase certificate issued by the grain station to the grain vendor without permission, which became the grain vendor's shield and was fired by the grain department. A person in charge of the Hunan Provincial Grain Bureau summarized the grain reform process in five sentences, that is, the grain reform work depends on the effect, and the effect mainly depends on the profit and loss.This makes perfect sense.The management of the purchase market is the first link in the grain reform. If the management does not keep up, the subsequent links will inevitably be affected. Zhang Chaowu, deputy director of the Heilongjiang Industry and Commerce Bureau, commented on the management of the grain market this time: "It has been 20 years since the administration of industry and commerce resumed, and I have also worked in the industry and commerce bureau for 17 years. Governance, but I have never felt such a great pressure, such a great responsibility, and never thought that the management of the grain market is so important.”