中国国家粮食储备机构将拍卖220万吨临储粮
China’s state grains reserves body will auction about 2m tonnes of old corn stocks and 200,000 tonnes of rice on Friday to clear space before the harvest season starts, helping to chip away space in its grossly overstocked grains warehouses.
中国国家粮食储备机构将在周五拍卖约200万吨陈玉米库存及20万吨大米，以便在收获季节开始前清理仓储空间，帮助从其存货过多的粮仓中腾出空间。
China’s state reserves of corn, wheat, rice and other agricultural commodities have climbed to high levels thanks to a policy that set state purchasing prices well above market prices in China or overseas. The huge size of the reserves, estimated at 250m tonnes for corn alone, now threatens to swamp markets if sold or run the risk of spoiling from prolonged storage.
由于一项令政府收购价格大大高于中国或海外市场价的政策，中国的玉米、小麦、大米及其他农业大宗商品的国家储备已攀升至极高水平。据估计，仅玉米库存就高达2.5亿吨。如今，巨大的粮食储备规模，一旦销售很可能会淹没整个市场，或者面临因长期存储而损坏的风险。
The state grains trading centre said it would sell corn grown in northern China in 2012, plus imported corn from 2011 and 2012, to designated buyers, understood to be feed companies and other industrial processors. The choice of buyers indicates that the grain quality has deteriorated so that it is unsuitable for human food.
国家粮食交易中心表示，该中心将向指定买家销售2012年在中国北方种植的玉米以及2011年到2012年期间进口的玉米。按照人们的理解，这些指定买家是一些饲料企业和其他工业加工企业。对买家的选择，表明这批玉米的品质已经恶化，不适合作为食品出售。
“We have too much old grains. They have to be sold off for cheap,” said Ma Wenfeng of Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant, a critic of China’s grains stockpiling policy.
中国粮食库存政策的批评者、北京东方艾格农业咨询有限公司(Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants)马文峰表示：“我们的陈粮太多了，必须廉价抛售。”
China’s state reserves normally keep grains for up to three years then rotate the old grains out to make room for the new harvest. The system is designed to keep grains to stabilise prices or for use in case of a natural disaster.
通常，中国的国家粮食储备会把粮食存储最多三年，再把陈粮轮换出去，以便为新收获粮食腾出空间。整个系统的设计目的是通过粮食存储确保价格稳定，或在发生自然灾害时使用。
However, the poor quality of the stored grains and the high prices sought by the reserves body to avoid too great a loss on stocks purchased at above-market prices meant that much of the grain put up for auction went unsold in recent years. Regular weekly grains auctions will kick off after the stock-clearing sale on Friday.
不过，仓储粮品质低劣，而对于以高于市场价收购的库存，储藏机构为避免亏损过大而开出了很高的价格。这些因素导致最近几年这些被拍卖的粮食许多都没有卖出去。在周五的清理库存销售之后，中国将启动每周的定期粮食拍卖。
China’s mounting grain inventories are expected to further boost total global stocks to a new record of 474m tonnes for the crop year 2016-17, according to latest figures from the International Grains Council. At almost 200m tonnes, inventories in China may be the largest since 1999-2000, nominally accounting for more than 40 per cent of the world total, said the IGC.
根据国际谷物理事会(International Grains Council，IGC)发布的最新数据，中国不断增高的粮食库存预计会进一步推升全球总库存，在2016-2017农事年将其推升至4.74亿吨的新纪录。IGC表示，中国近2亿吨库存也许是1999至2000农事年以来的最高水平，这一数字从表面上说占了全球总库存的40%以上。
China said this year it would scrap the minimum purchase price policy. The expectation of lower prices has already impacted plantings this year. Acreage planted with corn in the north-east breadbasket fell this year for the first time in 13 years, the vice minister of agriculture said this month.
今年，中国曾表示会取消最低收购价政策。对价格降低的预期已经对今年的粮食种植产生了影响。这个月，中国农业部副部长曾表示，今年东北产粮区的玉米种植面积出现13年来首次减少。
After Beijing’s announcement, corn prices in China have fallen sharply. The price of the commodity traded in Dalian is now at Rmb1,691 ($258) a tonne, down almost a fifth since the start of the year.
在中国政府公布上述消息之后，中国玉米价格已急剧下跌。目前，大连交易的玉米大宗商品交易价格为每吨1691元人民币（合258美元），自今年初以来下跌了近五分之一。
The US Department of Agriculture officials last month warned that the Chinese government could face paper losses of more than $10bn on its state-owned corn reserves as it shakes up its agricultural support policy.
上个月，美国农业部官员曾警告称，在整顿其农业支持政策之际，中国政府在国有玉米储备上可能会面临逾100亿美元的账面亏损。
Administrative efforts to trim the reserves, for instance by issuing import quotas only to companies that agree to buy at the auctions, have backfired. Feed mills and food processors prefer to buy or import fresh, cheaper grain and simply resell the unwanted old stocks back to the warehouses, where it is entered in ledgers as new stocks.
中国降库存的行政努力，比如只向同意在拍卖会上买入的企业发放进口配额，已产生了不良后果。饲料厂和食品加工企业宁可买入或进口更廉价的新鲜粮食，而把不想要的陈粮库存转手卖回存储仓库，而这些陈粮库存在这类仓库会以新库存入账。
The distortions of the grains reserve policy is amplified by lack of information about what exactly the warehouses hold. Chinese media occasionally expose corruption in the grains reserves system, including tales of cotton warehouses stuffed with mattresses and granaries that mysteriously burn down shortly before inspectors are due to arrive.
而这些仓库具体存储内容信息的缺乏，则放大了粮食储备政策的扭曲状况。中国媒体曾偶然曝光粮食储备系统中的腐败现象，其中的传闻包括棉花仓库充斥旧床垫、以及检查人员到来前不久粮仓神秘起火等。
