Sales of corn produced in Jilin province have fallen dramatically, apparently because of the effect of lower-priced imports now that China is a member of the World Trade Organisation. South China Morning Post quoted the head of the provincial farm bureau,Wang Shouchen, as saying that in the traditionally busy period before the Spring Festival, Jilin Farm Group this year had no major export orders and the provincial grain stocks had reached 7m tonnes.
The newspaper also reported the situation of Yushu city, one of Jilin’s major grain-producing areas, which last year produced 2.25m tonnes of grain. The city’s grain stocks now total 2.35m tonnes and it has having to rent extra storage space. The city owes Yn5bn to the Agricultural Bank of China and Yn100m to suppliers of agricultural equipment. It is also having difficulty finding money to pay the wages of staff in its storage and distribution companies.
