November 5, 2007
China to decentralize grain distribution
China's central government budget will put a heavy emphasis on providing support to grain logistics projects starting this year, deputy director of the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) Bi Jingquan said on Thursday (October 30).
Bi stressed the importance of promoting the reform of modern grain logistics development from centralised distribution to local storage, transportation, packaging and unloading.
China's grain distribution system is at times snagged by logistics bottlenecks, particularly when grains from the producer regions in the north need to reach the main consumption regions in the south.
In its "Modern Grain Logistics Development Planning" published in August 2007, SDRC set the target of establishing major national channels and hubs for decentralized grain distribution by 2015.
The plan would raise the portion of decentralized grain distribution in total national grain distribution from the current 15 percent to 55 percent, while raising the portion of decentralized grain distribution in cross-provincial transportation from the current 20 percent to 80 percent.
The efforts are expected to enhance the state's emergency management capacity of the grain market.
The SDRC said it would structure favourable policies for the development of decentralized grain distribution, such as incentives to enterprises and local governments.
The key task in developing a modern grain logistics system is the building of six cross-provincial grain distribution channels,
1) The outlet for grain output in northeast China,
2) The outlet for wheat output in the Yellow River-Huaihe River-Haihe River area,
3) The outlet for grain and the inlet for corn in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River
4) The inlet for grain in the major distribution centers in the coastal areas of east China,
5) The inlet for grain in the major distribution centers in south China,
6) The inlet for grain in the major distribution centers in the Beijing-Tianjin area.
