Han Changfu, China’s Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, expressed last week that China plans to reduce the corn planting scale in 2016 and change to plant other crops on the corn cultivated land for the reason of the pressure of the government facing to cut down the enormous corn stocks.

Han Changfu expressed at a conference of agricultural officers in the northeastward producing area that China would promote to plant miscellaneous grains and beans, and more silo corn for fodder where appropriate. Covering 40% of the total output of corns in the whole nation, the four provinces in the northeast would be the key regions to be made structural adjustment of corn planting.

He said that we must sufficiently recognize the significance and urgency of carrying forward the structural adjustment of agriculture. However, he did not revel about the size of seeded area of corn to be reduced.

A government official expressed that China would no longer pursue the bumper crops but give priority to the food safety and enhance imports to solve the environmental problems of the rural areas due to the deterioration of soil and water resources.

Li Qiang, the Chief Analyst of Shanghai JC Intelligence declared that the increase of the planting area of silo corn is a long-term strategy of the government for the priority development of the animal husbandry which would not solve the enormous pressure of corn stocks in the country in a short term, especially in view of the good harvest of corn expected this year.

The purchasing and storage policies on China’s grains have resulted in the high price of corn at home. About 30% the domestic corn price higher than the international standard has prompted the merchants to import the corns and substitute goods at a lower price. The high price of the corn also has encouraged farmers to increase their planting areas for corns continuously this year and the output is expected to be the all-time high.The analyst predicted that the corn stocks of Chinese government would exceed 120 million tons to satisfy 8 months of consumptions. The auction of corns stored by the nation weekly held by Chinese government has been impacted by the weak demand and lower price of the imports.