On the 25th, the National Development and Reform Commission held an internal symposium on the current price situation. It was discussed at the meeting that high vegetable prices have increased the pressure on the people's lives, but too low vegetable prices will damage the interests of farmers. What is the problem? Experts at the conference generally believed that the current domestic circulation costs are too high and the domestic circulation system is in urgent need of reform.

"Circulation costs account for 50%-70%"

Wang Tongsan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the figures for China's circulation industry expenses are shocking. 82% of the world's toll roads are in China, and circulation costs account for 50%-70%, which is too high.

Wu Xiaoqiu, director of the forecast department of the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that domestic production prices of agricultural products have always been "difficult to rise and fall quickly." The price increase is much higher when the price increases on the table. The current solution to the problem is to reduce circulation costs. He said that in some cities, there have been measures to directly connect agricultural products to supermarkets, but because of the existence of huge interest groups, the scale is still small and it is difficult to promote them.

"Transportation capacity is 40% empty state"

Fan Jianping, director of the forecast department of the State Information Center, for example, said that the Ministry of Commerce once conducted a follow-up investigation on this issue in Shanghai and found that a couple working in the vegetable market had to go to the wholesale market at 2 in the middle of the night. The work was very hard, but the latter The monthly income is only equivalent to the low living security of ordinary urban residents. The logistics industry is a fully competitive industry, and those who run transportation do not make huge profits. Later, it was discovered that the problem was that the comprehensive cost of logistics was too high.

Fan Jianping said that the current logistics and transportation organization in China is too backward, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, unlike several large foreign transportation companies that have formed. These large companies can use information technology to adjust the transportation of vehicles. In our country, 40% of the transportation capacity is empty. It is often the case that it is overloaded when going out and empty when returning. China's logistics costs are 1-2 times higher than the world average.

It is understood that solving this problem involves multiple departments such as the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Development and Reform Commission. However, the various ministries and commissions have not yet issued comprehensive measures to address this issue. Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission required toll roads to provide "green channels" for vehicles transporting agricultural products. Fan Jianping said that the problem of high logistics costs has existed for many years. He hopes that the government can use the opportunity of stabilizing prices to break the problem of inter-departmental coordination and truly resolve the problem. For example, the government can build an information platform for small and medium-sized enterprises to use. , To reduce the cost of setting up an information platform for enterprises, and at the same time increase the overall capacity.

Development and Reform Commission experts said CPI level is basically controllable

Yesterday, at the internal symposium of the National Development and Reform Commission, experts also analyzed this year's price levels and control measures. Chen Dongqi, deputy dean of the Macro Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, believes that the overall level of CPI this year can basically be controlled within the expected target, and the annual price level may remain at about 4.5%.

The domestic CPI reached 5.4% in March this year, a 32-month high. Experts at the meeting believed that inflation is caused by multiple factors such as a variety of externally imported inflation, a moderately loose monetary policy in response to the financial crisis, and an increase in wages for workers. The price situation in the second half of the year is also faced with conditions that are difficult to control, such as external imported inflation factors. The important factor is that the second round of quantitative easing monetary policy in the United States will expire in June this year. It is still difficult to judge whether the United States will raise interest rates or will still introduce quantitative easing monetary policy.

Chen Dongqi believes that the price level in the first half of the year may be a little higher than 5%. In the second quarter, taking into account the carry-over factor, it may be even higher. In the second half of the year, the impact of the previous macro-control will gradually appear. The price index will converge, but there will be an inflection point. It is unlikely. Regarding the current control measures, he said that the government still has room for control. As long as economic growth can decelerate from a high level, CPI will also decelerate. If GDP remains below 10%, the CPI level will probably remain at the level of 3%-5%.

It is recommended to fortify the inflation "reservoir"

Wu Xiaohua, Director of the Research Department of the Macro Researcher of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that my country’s current inflation level is still relatively low compared to that of emerging economies such as India and Vietnam. The people's lives have a great impact.

He believes that instead of doing everything possible to stabilize the overall price level, it is better to protect the income of the middle and low classes, and suggested that the government establish a "reservoir" to prevent inflation. For example, with the increase in oil prices, the current domestic dependence on foreign sources is more than 50%. The government can explore the establishment of a buffer channel for the import of bulk commodities, and cannot allow large enterprise groups to borrow internationally imported inflation factors to seek benefits.

Fan Jianping of the National Information Center said that cost-driven price increases are an automatic adjustment method of the market economy, and price levers can play a role in adjusting the industrial structure and promoting enterprises to increase labor productivity. If an enterprise cannot absorb the cost pressure by increasing labor productivity, it will lose the market.