China News Agency, Beijing, July 30 (Reporter Chen Su) Recently, Henan has experienced extreme heavy rainfall. As China's main grain producing area, will severe floods push up food prices and affect food security?
On the 30th, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China held a press conference to respond to this.
On the same day, Tang Ke, director of the Department of Market and Information Technology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, said that from the monitoring situation, China's grain prices did not fluctuate significantly, and the market operation remained basically stable.
With regard to wheat, market purchases and sales were generally normal, and prices continued to show a steady but weak trend.
Tang Ke said that as in previous years, the wheat in Henan has basically been harvested around the end of June. Due to the high yield and good quality of wheat this year, and the active market purchase and sales, the initial purchase price per catty is generally higher than last year by 0.1 yuan (RMB, the same below). After that, with the increase in the number of listings, the progress of farmers' grain sales accelerated, and the market purchase price steadily declined slightly.
After the heavy rainfall disasters in Zhengzhou, Xinxiang and other places, some farmers and traders have become more difficult to keep grain in their hands, and their willingness to sell grain has increased, leading to continued weakening of wheat prices, but the decline is not significant.
According to the schedule, the average purchase price of common wheat in the main producing areas was about 1.25 yuan per catty on July 26, which was about 0.01 yuan lower than before the disaster.
With regard to corn, the price of corn rose slightly in some areas, and the national market has not changed much.
Tang Ke said that since last year, corn prices have risen sharply, which has attracted great attention from all parties in the market. Starting from June this year, as the tight supply situation eases, corn prices have fallen from high levels.
After the heavy rain disaster in Henan and other places, the market worried that the production and supply of corn would be affected. The price of some parts of North China rebounded slightly in the short term, but it did not drive the increase of national corn prices.
On July 26, the national average purchase price of corn was about 1.3 yuan per catty, which remained basically stable.
Tang Ke said that from the perspective of the international market, there has been no significant fluctuations in the near future, and the overall trend is still high and fluctuating.
On July 26, the closing prices of the main wheat and corn contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade both fell from a week ago.
"Although the operation of the grain market is affected by many factors such as market expectations and capital speculation, it mainly depends on the fundamentals of supply and demand. The impact of the heavy rains and floods in Henan on the grain market is partial and short-term, and has an overall impact on China's grain production and supply. Relatively limited.” Tang Ke said that this year China’s summer grains have been harvested in abundance, and autumn grains are growing generally well. Coupled with sufficient grain stocks, the foundation for food supply and price stability is solid. Grain prices are expected to remain stable in the future.
(Finish)