China grain official vows to prevent farmer selling difficulties, keep prices reasonable

By Zhang Qiannan, Interface News; Edited by Liu Haichuan

"Grain procurement concerns the interests of farmers, so farmers care about it; it also concerns the interests of urban residents, so the public cares deeply as well," said Liu Huanxin, Member of the Party Leadership Group of the National Development and Reform Commission and Director of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on September 21, 2026. The briefing was part of the "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan" series.

Liu Huanxin noted that China's autumn grain peak procurement season typically runs from late September to the end of April the following year. Preparations for this year's autumn grain procurement are now complete. A national autumn grain procurement work conference was recently held in Chengdu to outline and arrange related tasks, with implementation to follow.

"Our main objectives during implementation are: first, to uphold the bottom line that farmers can sell the grain they grow, preventing any difficulties in selling grain and protecting farmers' interests; second, to maintain grain prices at a reasonable level," Liu stated.

Five Key Areas of Focus

Liu outlined five priority areas for the procurement work:

1. Strengthening procurement organization – Enhancing inter-departmental coordination and policy alignment, ensuring adequate staffing, funding, storage capacity, and transportation to facilitate orderly procurement.

1. Activating market purchasing and sales – Deepening production-marketing cooperation and farmer-enterprise linkages, increasing market-based procurement efforts, leveraging the driving role of key enterprises, and encouraging diverse market entities to actively participate.

1. Implementing timely regulation – Strengthening grain market monitoring, enhancing government reserve吞吐 adjustments and coordinated operations, and properly utilizing minimum purchase price policies to maintain market stability.

1. Optimizing services for farmers – Addressing new characteristics and demands of farmers' grain sales by integrating online appointment systems with offline sales, organizing door-to-door grain quality inspections, sample testing, and巡回 inspections, providing technical guidance on grain storage, and helping farmers resolve issues in the grain circulation process.

1. Strengthening oversight – Keeping the 12325 grain and物资储备 supervision hotline open to promptly address public concerns. Enhancing grain procurement supervision in accordance with laws and regulations, strengthening cross-departmental administrative law enforcement coordination, and strictly punishing practices that harm farmers' interests to maintain a sound procurement order.

Four Pathways for Grain Procurement During the 15th Five-Year Plan Period

When asked about organizing large-scale grain procurement, Liu emphasized the principle of balancing market orientation with protecting farmers' interests, combining effective markets with a capable government. Market-based procurement and policy-based storage should be coordinated to ensure smooth sales channels, uphold the bottom line that farmers can sell their grain, and maintain reasonable grain prices.

Liu introduced four main pathways for grain procurement during the 15th Five-Year Plan period:

Pathway 1: Independent market procurement by diverse business entities – This is the primary pathway. Tens of thousands of grain enterprises form the backbone of grain procurement, setting their own prices and purchasing grain based on their operational realities—i.e., market-based procurement. Market-based procurement accounts for over 90% of total grain purchases. The core of this pathway is to fully leverage the role of diverse entities in activating purchasing, sales, and circulation.

Pathway 2: Leading enterprises driving procurement – Central grain-related enterprises and local leading companies have advantages in storage capacity, funding, personnel, and channels. Their purchasing and sales activities strongly influence other enterprises, making them the vanguard of grain procurement. Therefore, it is essential to focus on central grain enterprises and local leading companies to leverage their strong purchasing capacity as a driving and示范 force.

Pathway 3: Government reserve enterprise轮换 procurement – Governments at all levels maintain grain reserves, and these reserve enterprises have established regular轮换 mechanisms, typically purchasing new grain during peak market supply periods. The core of this pathway is to effectively utilize government reserves to stabilize markets and regulate supply and demand.

Pathway 4: Minimum purchase price support procurement – Wheat and rice are subject to minimum purchase price policies, which have been in place for over 20 years and have played a significant role in safeguarding farmers' grain production income. Procurement points are reasonably set up in provinces implementing the minimum purchase price policy. When market prices fall below the minimum purchase price, support procurement is promptly initiated. The core of this pathway is to properly implement the minimum purchase price support policy, stabilizing expectations and upholding the bottom line.