Agricultural officials are calling for more support for the domestic corn industry

Introduction: odj Beijing, Feb 28 news: on Thursday, a senior agricultural official from Jilin Province was quoted by industry insiders as saying that after China's accession to the WTO, the Chinese government should provide more help to its corn planting industry and improve its competitiveness in the international market CHEN Si, director of Agriculture Department of Jilin Provincial Committee of agricultural work, said that the government should provide more direct support to corn growers, strengthen agricultural development and research, and provide agricultural production loans to cope with the competition faced by China after its accession to the WTO According to industry insiders, the Chinese government and many other officials in the industry have also repeatedly warned about the huge impact of the WTO on domestic corn growers and related industries They are worried that cheap and high-quality imported corn from the United States and South America will bring fierce competition for domestic corn in China If China suddenly changes from a corn exporter to a corn importer, many farmers may lose their jobs, leading to social instability According to the statistics of the Ministry of agriculture of China, in 2001, China's corn output was 110 million tons, of which 6 million tons were used for export, and the subsidy provided by the state for the export of corn was up to 418 yuan per ton, making COFCO and JGG, two state-owned export companies authorized by the state, export price of dado corn in 2001 was 105 US dollars per ton, FOB Beijing's industry insiders and analysts said that after China's accession to the WTO in December last year, this advantage will be greatly weakened, because as a member of the WTO, it will not be able to provide high subsidies for export products The Chinese government also agreed to import corn in large quantities under the tariff rate quota system On February 8, 2002, the National Development Planning Commission announced the quota of corn import in 2002, which was 5.85 million tons, of which 68% was allocated to state-owned companies Although most analysts believe that China may not use many quotas, it is still a potential bad omen for the domestic corn industry, which is currently suffering from low production efficiency, lack of financial and technical support According to local sources, feed producers in South China, the main consumption area of corn, think the tariff rate quota is good for them Due to the limited railway transportation capacity and local protectionism, local traders have to pay high freight through cumbersome procedures to transport corn from the northeast to the south, so corn imported from the United States and South America is more attractive than domestic corn A trader in Beijing said the Chinese government was concerned about the threat posed by large quantities of imported corn and was considering ways to boost domestic production China's GM policy can also be used to curb corn imports from the United States, as strict GM regulations require importers to provide safety certificates for any imported corn containing GM ingredients There are still many uncertainties surrounding the GM regulations, so Chinese traders won't have a big appetite for imported corn In addition, the price gap between domestic corn in China and imported corn in the United States is narrowing, which will also curb the enthusiasm of local traders to buy imported corn According to the latest USDA forecast report, it is predicted that China will import 1 million tons of corn and export 3 million tons in 2001 / 02 market year.