China to end price support policy for domestic grain crops

China’s government will end price supports for the country’s grain prices, allowing them instead to be set by the market, The Financial Times reported, citing comments in the party newspaper People’s Daily by Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Communist party’s Central Rural Work Leading Group. “The price will be decided by the market and will no longer play the role of subsidizing farmers,” Chen told the party mouthpiece, though he did not give a date for the change. The purchasing prices enforced by Beijing have both driven up domestic prices for corn, wheat and other grains far above international levels, leading to a severe and growing oversupply and depressing international prices.