A Review of China's Grain Marketing System Reform

Open Access

Abstract

This paper aims to review and evaluate the process of China's grain marketing reform since the late 1970s. It reveals that through 20 years of reform, China's grain marketing system has been greatly liberalised and marketised. Most of the grain is now sold at the market prices. The market structure has changed and private business companies and individuals play an active role in the grain business. These changes have promoted competition and efficiency in grain marketing sector. Despite the progress, China's grain marketing system still retains many characteristics of the centrally planned economy, and government intervention and administrative methods are still the common practices in grain marketing. The paper argues that while the reforms to date have enabled greater decentralisation and marketisation of the grain marketing system, the pressure for further reforms remains.