Beijing | Reuters — China plans to subsidize grain transportation and storage facilities in the latest push by Beijing to modernize the world’s largest agriculture sector.
Beijing will subsidize projects upgrading or building facilities to load and receive grains along main railways and ports for major waterways including the Yangtze and Pearl rivers, a document issued by China’s National Development and Research Commission (NDRC) said on Friday.
“Setting up the special funds… will help to reduce the cost of grain distribution and improve efficiency,” the document said.
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Inadequate transportation capacity for grain has caused backlog in the north and spiked prices in the past, while poor storage facilities are a major cause of grain losses in China.
China, which aims to improve its grain logistics system and boost grain storage capacity by 2020, will also subsidize grain facilities that offer storage, processing, trading and quality inspection services, the NDRC document said.
These so-called logistic parks must occupy at least 20 hectares of land and have more than 100,000 tonnes of storage capacity, the document said, adding that a single project could receive as much as 100 million yuan (C$19 million).
— Reporting for Reuters by Hallie Gu and Josephine Mason.
