November 5, 2010

China's grain authority acts to regulate autumn grain purchases

The State Administration of Grain (SAG), China's grain authority, published a circular on Thursday (Nov 4) to ask local bureaus to check irregularities in autumn grain purchases.

According to SAG, the move is aimed at keeping order in the grain purchase market, ensuring the government's grain policies are implemented to the letter, and facilitating the goal of managing expectations of inflation.

SAG said that the affiliated companies of China Grain Reserve Corp., the state-authorised reserve grain manager and operator, should not engage in commercial activities other than the handling of reserve grain.

The grain authority has asked other related authorities to check the qualifications of various grain purchasers and warehouses and punish those found to be involved in price rigging, hoarding and fabricating information.

Those violating the rules would be removed of the status of national reserve grain purchasers and banned from reserve grain purchases for three years, the SAG noted.