From the end of this year 10 to the middle of this year 1 10, China's edible oil retail market has experienced another round of sharp increase exceeding 10%. The industry believes that speculation and other human factors are important factors in this round of oil price increase. This time, the government departments quickly put out the rising trend of edible oil by administrative and market means.
However, has the root cause of the price increase of edible oil been solved? The industry does not think so. In the case that 70% of the wholesale right of edible oil in China is in the hands of foreign companies, and only four international grain merchants, such as ADM, control 66% of the large-scale oil enterprises and 85% of the production capacity in China, the pricing right of edible oil in China is no longer in their own hands, which directly threatens China's economic security and food safety.
This reminds people of the soaring edible oil during the Spring Festival in 2008. Before the Spring Festival in 2008, the price of edible oil soared to a record high.
At that time, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had to announce that temporary price-intervention measures would be launched from June 5th to October 5th, 2008, stipulating that the price increase of edible oil and other agricultural products should not exceed 5%. However, this soon became a dead letter. Even if the country uses strategic reserve oil to deal with it, it will not help.
"Because 70% of China's edible oil wholesale rights are in the hands of foreign companies. Only the four major international grain merchants such as ADM control 66% of large oil companies and 85% of production capacity in China. " Xie Bingzhe, Chairman of the Strategic Decision Committee of China Maggie Holding Group, who has studied the circulation channels for more than 20 years, said that Arowana, which accounts for 60% of the edible oil market, is 100% foreign capital, and even Lu Hua, the largest peanut oil supplier in China, is in the hands of foreign companies.
"Foreign capital controls the channels of edible oil, and it will cut off supply if the price rises." Xie Bingzhen said that foreign edible oil giants cut off the supply to Shenzhen first, and then, during the Spring Festival in 2008, the whole Pearl River Delta began to experience a shortage of edible oil. Immediately, the edible oil shortage quickly spread to major cities across the country.
Foreign capital manipulation
So, what triggered this round of increase in edible oil?
Some people in the industry hold different views. Wen Wuhan, vice president of Guangdong Price Association, said in an interview: "It is not excluded that the four major grain merchants are speculating." Besides Wen Wuhan, the Chinese University of Hong Kong professor (blog) also talked about this issue in public.
Some insiders said: "COFCO is complaining that COFCO futures are controlled by the four major grain merchants, at least by their agents."
The four major grain merchants are the four companies that control the world's grain production, transportation and marketing. According to their initials, people call them "ABCD" for short: ADM (Archer Daniels Midland, abbreviated as "A"), Bunge (abbreviated as "B"), Cargill (abbreviated as "C") and Louis Dreyfus. Among them, ADM company and Singapore Fengyi Group jointly invested to form Yihai Kerry Group. Arowana belongs to Yihai Kerry Group, and shares in Lu Hua and other famous domestic grain and oil processing enterprises. It has 38 holding factories and trading companies in China and is the largest grain and oil processing group in China.
Then, how did foreign capital penetrate into the field of edible oil in China step by step and control the pricing power, most output and sales channels of edible oil in China?
Lang Xianping said in his blog that in 2004, China was defeated by the soybean financial war jointly launched by the US government and Wall Street.
In fact, it was the great development period of domestic crushing industry at that time, and soybean imports increased greatly. However, the pricing power of soybeans lies with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Because international grain merchants monopolize 80% of the world's grain trading volume and control the major raw material markets such as the United States, Brazil and Argentina and the global transportation and warehousing system, the pricing power of the futures market is manipulated by transnational capital. International grain merchants buy soybeans at low prices, then control the international futures market and sell them at high prices. From 2002 to 2004, China enterprises suffered three consecutive times from international grain merchants and investment funds.
For example, from 2003 to early 2004, China sent an agricultural product procurement mission to the United States, and purchased 6,543,800 tons of soybeans. According to the USDA, when the soybean harvest was not good, the China purchasing delegation went to the United States, and the soybean futures price had reached 4,300 yuan/ton. The delegation of China signed the order at this price, and one month later, the soybean price dropped to 3 100 yuan/ton.
In this year, the losses of enterprises involved in the acquisition in China reached more than 8 billion yuan, and more than half of soybean processing enterprises stopped production and closed down. The four major grain merchants took the opportunity to acquire enterprises that stopped working in China. Since then, the soybean market in China has been dominated by four major grain merchants.