中國放棄玉米價格支持政策

The Chinese government could face paper losses ofmore than $10bn on its state-owned corn reservesas it shakes up its agricultural support policy.

隨著中國政府調整農業(yè)支持政策，其國有玉米儲備可能面臨逾100億美元的賬面損失。

Beijing last month announced that it would end itsprice support policy in an attempt to reduce itsmounting corn stockpile, starting with the upcomingharvest this year.

北京方面上月宣布，將從今年收獲季開始結束價格支持政策，此舉旨在削減日益增加的玉米庫存。

“The government has now abandoned price support policies for all commodities except wheatand rice,” confirmed the Beijing bureau of the US Department Agriculture in a report releasedon Thursday.

在周四發(fā)布的一份報告中，美國農業(yè)部(USDA)北京農業(yè)事務處證實：“中國政府現已放棄了除小麥和大米以外所有大宗商品的價格支持政策。”

The Chinese government’s announcement led to a 10 per cent fall in the new crop corn pricetraded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, said the USDA report.

美國農業(yè)部的報告稱，中國政府的聲明導致在大連商品交易所(Dalian Commodity exchange)交易的新玉米價格下跌了10%。

“A Rmb600 per tonne write down on corn stocks would result in a paper loss of over $10bn,” itsaid, adding that the total cost was likely to be higher as the figure did not take into accountstorage costs.

它表示：“玉米庫存每噸減值600元人民幣將導致逾100億美元的賬面虧損。”報告補充稱，總成本可能更高，因為該數據沒有考慮倉儲成本。

“Some corn stocks may have lost their entire value as they are too deteriorated to sell,” it said.

它表示：“一些玉米庫存可能喪失全部價值，因為它們變質得太厲害，根本賣不出去。”

Beijing’s agricultural support policy has led to mounting surpluses, while cheap imports havealso led to domestic corn being left unconsumed. Huge state inventories as well as fallingproductivity and environmental deterioration were forcing China to overhaul its policy, saidthe USDA.

中國的農業(yè)支持政策導致玉米日益過剩，同時廉價進口也導致國產玉米沒有被消費掉。美國農業(yè)部表示，龐大的政府庫存以及生產率不斷下降和環(huán)境惡化，正迫使中國調整其政策。

The report comes after international agricultural trade bosses this week said that China couldturn to exports to reduce its corn stocks.

該報告發(fā)布之前，國際農產品貿易機構的掌門人本周紛紛表示，中國可能轉向出口以削減其玉米庫存。

The head of Cargill’s grain trading said earlier this week at the FT Commodities Global Summitthat there was a “fifty-fifty” chance of China exporting some of its inventories.

嘉吉(Cargill)的谷物貿易主管本周早些時候在英國《金融時報》全球大宗商品峰會(FT Commodities GlobalSummit)上表示，中國有“五成”的可能性出口一部分庫存。

Gert-Jan van den Akker, president of Cargill’s agricultural supply chain, said: “[The Chinese]don’t need to export that through corn exports itself” — damaged corn could also be turnedinto industrial starch or ethanol before being sold, he added.

嘉吉農業(yè)供應鏈總裁格特-簡•范登奧凱爾(Gert-Jan van den Akker)表示：“(中國人)不需要通過玉米本身出口而出口。”他補充稱，變質玉米也可以先制成工業(yè)淀粉或者乙醇，然后再銷售。

“China has a huge starch industry,” he said.

他說：“中國擁有龐大的淀粉工業(yè)。”

China would be breaching WTO rules by selling its subsidised corn overseas.

如果中國向海外銷售其接受補貼的玉米，將違反世貿組織(WTO)規(guī)則。

However, it could wait until this year’s harvest, which would not be supported by the state, toexport its corn, said another agricultural trader.

然而，另一位農業(yè)貿易商表示，中國可以等到今年收獲之后再出口玉米，今年收獲的玉米價格將不會受到政府的支持。

The country is seen to hold about 100m tonnes of corn in its grain reserves. The last time thecountry exported significant amounts internationally was in the 2006-07 crop year, when it soldmore than 5m tonnes.

外界認為中國的谷物儲備中有大約1億噸的玉米。上次中國大量出口是在2006-07作物年度，當時它銷售了逾500萬噸。

The USDA Beijing bureau forecast overall corn acreage to fall 3 per cent, although it addedthat the corn planting season had already begun.

美國農業(yè)部北京農業(yè)事務處預計中國整體玉米種植面積下降3%，不過它補充稱，玉米種植季已經開始。

“According to contacts in north-east China, most farmers have already made planting decisionsand cannot easily change plans based on the cancellation of the temporary reserveprogramme,” it added.

它接著說道：“中國東北的消息人士稱，大多數農民已經做出了種植決定，不可能因為臨時收儲項目取消而輕易改變計劃。”