中國國家糧食儲備機構將拍賣220萬噸臨儲糧
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.
中國國家糧食儲備機構將在週五拍賣約200萬噸陳玉米庫存及20萬噸大米，以便在收穫季節開始前清理倉儲空間，幫助從其存貨過多的糧倉中騰出空間。
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.
由於一項令政府收購價格大大高於中國或海外市場價的政策，中國的玉米、小麥、大米及其他農業大宗商品的國家儲備已攀升至極高水平。據估計，僅玉米庫存就高達2.5億噸。如今，巨大的糧食儲備規模，一旦銷售很可能會淹沒整個市場，或者面臨因長期存儲而損壞的風險。
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.
國家糧食交易中心表示，該中心將向指定買家銷售2012年在中國北方種植的玉米以及2011年到2012年期間進口的玉米。按照人們的理解，這些指定買家是一些飼料企業和其他工業加工企業。對買家的選擇，表明這批玉米的品質已經惡化，不適合作爲食品出售。
“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.
中國糧食庫存政策的批評者、北京東方艾格農業諮詢有限公司(Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants)馬文峯表示：“我們的陳糧太多了，必須廉價拋售。”
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，中國的國家糧食儲備會把糧食存儲最多三年，再把陳糧輪換出去，以便爲新收穫糧食騰出空間。整個系統的設計目的是通過糧食存儲確保價格穩定，或在發生自然災害時使用。
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.
不過，倉儲糧品質低劣，而對於以高於市場價收購的庫存，儲藏機構爲避免虧損過大而開出了很高的價格。這些因素導致最近幾年這些被拍賣的糧食許多都沒有賣出去。在週五的清理庫存銷售之後，中國將啓動每週的定期糧食拍賣。
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.
根據國際穀物理事會(International Grains Council，IGC)發佈的最新數據，中國不斷增高的糧食庫存預計會進一步推升全球總庫存，在2016-2017農事年將其推升至4.74億噸的新紀錄。IGC表示，中國近2億噸庫存也許是1999至2000農事年以來的最高水平，這一數字從表面上說佔了全球總庫存的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，中國曾表示會取消最低收購價政策。對價格降低的預期已經對今年的糧食種植產生了影響。這個月，中國農業部副部長曾表示，今年東北產糧區的玉米種植面積出現13年來首次減少。
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.
在中國政府公佈上述消息之後，中國玉米價格已急劇下跌。目前，大連交易的玉米大宗商品交易價格爲每噸1691元人民幣（合258美元），自今年初以來下跌了近五分之一。
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.
上個月，美國農業部官員曾警告稱，在整頓其農業支持政策之際，中國政府在國有玉米儲備上可能會面臨逾100億美元的賬面虧損。
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.
中國降庫存的行政努力，比如只向同意在拍賣會上買入的企業發放進口配額，已產生了不良後果。飼料廠和食品加工企業寧可買入或進口更廉價的新鮮糧食，而把不想要的陳糧庫存轉手賣回存儲倉庫，而這些陳糧庫存在這類倉庫會以新庫存入賬。
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.
而這些倉庫具體存儲內容信息的缺乏，則放大了糧食儲備政策的扭曲狀況。中國媒體曾偶然曝光糧食儲備系統中的腐敗現象，其中的傳聞包括棉花倉庫充斥舊牀墊、以及檢查人員到來前不久糧倉神祕起火等。
