14 | Friday, October 23, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY SOE MATTERS

PLANNING FOR GROWTH Sinograin eyes high­tech to ensure food supply

By ZHONG NAN grain and oil procurement, sales, allocation and storage. China Grain Reserves Group Ltd Guided by government policies (Sinograin), the country’s largest such as the country’s first policy grain storage and transportation document of the year, the company company, pledged to apply more ensures that: farmers can sell their digital technologies and enhance grain at reasonable prices; domestic cross­industry cooperation during grain supply meets market demand; the 14th Five­Year Plan (2021­25) grain prices are basically stable, and period to help ensure national food farmers’ economic interests and security, said its top executive. national grain security are guaran­ Deng Yiwu, chairman of the cen­ teed. trally­administered State­owned It also sells central grain and oil enterprise, said that thanks to sup­ reserves that are nearing expiration port from a system of storage tech­ dates, and purchases grain and oil nologies targeting specific eco­ up to certain quality standards in regions and varieties of grains, accordance with government plans smart technologies have already each year. been applied to the company’s busi­ Eager to stabilize the agricultural ness operations. It now runs the sector and harness the role of rural world’s largest internet of things areas, China’s first policy document network in the global grain storage of the year contains scaled­up meas­ sector. ures to ensure that the country can The company will continue to car­ win the battle against poverty across ry out standardized and technology­ the board as well as strengthen based warehousing management to weak links in rural areas and certain guarantee the authenticity and high agricultural production areas. quality of all kinds of grain storage, This is the 17th consecutive year Deng said. in which the document — issued The Beijing­based group current­ annually by the Communist Party of China Railway employees pave a road in Batang county, Sichuan province, in July. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY ly operates more than 960 grain, oil China Central Committee and the and cotton storage facilities, with a State Council — has focused on combined storage capacity of nearly grain production and rural issues. 100 million metric tons. Its ware­ In realizing food security, China housing facilities are made up of will diversify import channels, large house granaries, shallow bins, increase imports of agricultural Central companies marrying tower silos and various oil storage products that meet domestic tankers, with main varieties of demand and adjust and improve a reserves including wheat, rice, corn, minimum­purchase­price system soybeans, cotton and edible oils. for rice and wheat, according to the Even though emergencies such document. as the COVID­19 pandemic have In addition to signing business CSR with poverty alleviation had an impact on the country’s eco­ contracts and cooperation agree­ nomic growth as well as changes in ments with the world’s major agri­ grain supply and demand in cer­ cultural goods traders — including Projects boost e­commerce, tourism, ing in the village,” he said. “This sta­ now poverty­free. tain provinces, Sinograin has United States­based Cargill Inc and ble income source has also CTG said it has so far invested actively worked with grain process­ France’s Louis Dreyfus Co — to cultivation in less­developed areas convinced a number of young peo­ more than 8.35 billion yuan on pov­ ing companies across China to import soybeans in recent years, the ple to stay at home and grow vari­ erty alleviation programs and initi­ cumulatively put more than 100 company will continue to adapt to By ZHONG NAN Group Ltd, a Beijing­based con­ ous agricultural products this year.” ated over 1,400 supportive projects, million tons of grain and oil into new international economic and [email protected] struction contractor, invested 12 The village’s online stores have benefiting more than 1 million peo­ the market, thus ensuring suffi­ trade conditions and actively adjust million yuan to help build four sold more 25 million yuan worth of ple. cient and reliable grain supply and its source for imports of certain agri­ For a long time, the country’s intelligent greenhouses and a train­ agricultural products. About 90 per­ China has set for itself the goal of helping stabilize food prices. cultural products, especially with poverty­stricken areas produced ing center for farmers. cent of them are different varieties ensuring no one remains below the “Strengthening scientific and markets taking part in the Belt and various goods, but inadequate sales The project helped farmers to of black fungus, said Jiang Bai­ poverty by the end this year. The technological innovation is an inevi­ Road Initiative, Sinograin President channels created problems in dis­ cultivate edible black fungus in Jin­ chuan, the village’s Party secretary. number of impoverished people table requirement for us to respond Chi Jingtao said. tribution that resulted in imbalan­ mi village of Zhashui county, China Three Gorges Corp, or has been brought down from 98.99 to the new situation of international China’s summer grain output ces in growth. Shaanxi province, in 2019. CTG, another central SOE, said it million in 2012 to 5.51 million by competition and implementing an reached a historic high of 142.8 mil­ Now, the China’s top State asset Located in the Qinling Moun­ has conducted 48 poverty allevia­ the end of last year, according to the innovation­driven development lion tons this year despite the COV­ regulator has said centrally admin­ tains, the intelligent fungus green­ tion projects this year entailing 400 State Council Leading Group Office strategy,” he said, adding that it is an ID­19 pandemic, said the National istered State­owned enterprises houses helped boost production million yuan in financial assistance of Poverty Alleviation and Develop­ inevitable requirement for imple­ Bureau of Statistics. will resolve the problem by boost­ output. Farm work has become eas­ to four designated counties. ment. menting the new national food The bumper harvest laid a solid ing domestic demand and fostering ier to manage and the quality of fun­ According to CTG, the projects In addition to deploying more security strategy, and promoting the foundation for this year’s food supply, coordinated regional development gus is ensured by modern farming cover supplies of food and clothes, resources to help poverty­stricken transformation and upgrading of which gives China strong confidence via discharge of their CSR — corpo­ technologies, said Wang Li, chair­ and compulsory education, basic areas, central SOEs will promote the grain industry. in its goal of building a moderately rate social responsibility — obliga­ man of the labor union of China medical care and safe housing the structural adjustment of sec­ Based on its role in implementing prosperous society in all respects and tions. Railway First Group. guarantees as well as sectors like tions of the economy that are State­ macroeconomic regulatory policy, winning the battle against poverty, Central SOEs have already Jinmi village’s black fungus is tourism, e­commerce, planting and owned, the SASAC said earlier this Sinograin — supported by more said Zheng Fengtian, a professor of invested almost 100 billion yuan sold via conventional outlets as breeding. month. than 40,000 employees and 30 sub­ rural development at Beijing­based ($14.85 billion) to help lift 221 poor well as e­commerce and live­ Under its plan, about 97.4 million Central SOEs will advance sidiaries — undertakes the tasks of Renmin University of China. counties out of poverty since 2016, streaming channels, he said. yuan will be spent on medical sup­ mixed­ownership reform, and according to data from the State­ Rather than giving villagers living port, which includes repletion of enhance cooperation between owned Assets Supervision and in poverty simple handouts, central four CTG medical poverty allevia­ SOEs and private companies dur­ Administration Commission of the SOEs’ poverty alleviation campaigns tion funds and renovation and ing the 14th Five­Year Plan (2021­ State Council. are meant to help them to find a expansion of two county hospitals. 25) period, the commission said. They have been increasing infra­ practical way to work their own way Wang Lin, president of CTG, said By partnering with private busi­ structure investment in poverty­ out of poverty. The campaigns also the implementation of these pro­ nesses, central SOEs have initiated stricken areas to help solve provide safety nets so that an event jects will help regional economic 214 strategic alliances for industrial livelihood problems, said Hao such as a serious illness in a family growth to recover from the effects technology innovation and built 54 Peng, chairman of the commission. does not push the entire household of COVID­19 pandemic and consol­ internet­connected industrial plat­ “This demonstrates that central back into poverty, he said. idate poverty alleviation gains, forms. SOEs are taking a leading role in Xiao Qingsong, a local farmer, which will lay a solid foundation for Through industrial funds, equity fulfilling their corporate social said he earned over 30,000 yuan af­ rural revitalization. purchases and other methods, cen­ responsibilities,” Hao said. ter planting black fungus last year. CTG has run poverty alleviation tral SOEs invested more than 400 “The country’s poverty­allevia­ He opened a restaurant in Septem­ projects in four counties — Wushan billion yuan in over 6,000 private tion efforts are not just meant to ber as the village, which is complete and Fengjie counties in Chongqing, companies since 2013, according to improve living standards so as to with modern facilities, attracting an Wan’an county in Jiangxi province SASAC data released last week. lift people above the poverty line, increasing number of visitors from and Baarin Left Banner in the Meanwhile, the government has but also to first help them shake off neighboring cities. Inner Mongolia autonomous guided central SOEs to reinforce poverty and then help them find an “With this new business at home, region — since 2002. management, become active share­ approach so they can work their I don’t need to work in other cities Over the past 18 years, it deputed holders after investing in private­ way up to a better life on their own.” as a migrant worker like before and 38 employees for project work and sector entities, strictly regulate A Sinograin employee checks quality of rice at the company’s depot China Railway First Group Co I have more time to look after my invested 850 million yuan in 298 transactions and promote disclo­ in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in September. Ltd, a subsidiary of China Railway children and parents while resid­ projects. These four counties are sure of information. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

SIX PRIORITIES

Wang Shoujun, council president One reactors: two as part of the of the Chinese Nuclear Society, said phase one facility at San’ao plant in Haiyang nuclear plant furthers nation’s green push the country’s nuclear sector has Zhejiang and the remaining two as entered a new period of develop­ part of the phase two facility at By ZHENG XIN The facility’s use of nuclear ener­ gradually replacing fossil fuels on a ment and opportunity. Changjiang plant in Hainan prov­ [email protected] 32.8 gy heating is expected to make large scale. China has become one of the top ince, which insiders said they billion kW unnecessary the use of 23,200 tons Wei Hanyang, a power market players on the global stage for believe will reboot the country’s Haiyang nuclear power plant in electricity that Haiyang nuclear of coal annually. analyst at Bloomberg New Ener­ nuclear power generation, pos­ nuclear power sector. Shandong province had generated power plant has generated by The Haiyang nuclear energy gy, said the Haiyang plant is the sessing an advanced nuclear pow­ By the end of last month, China more than 32.8 billion kilowatts of the end of September heating project is expected to pro­ first commercial attempt in Chi­ er industry chain including had 48 nuclear facilities in opera­ electricity by the end of September, vide heating to all of Haiyang by na to supply heat from nuclear uranium resources exploration, tion with an installed capacity of according to its operator Shan­ 2021. power. nuclear fuel supply, engineering 49.88 GW, ranking third worldwide. dong Nuclear Power Co, a subsidi­ ondary circuit, have also provided Shandong is aiming to become a “China is undergoing an design and development, engi­ Currently, 14 nuclear units are ary of State Power Investment heating to 700,000 square meters major nuclear player in the country approval process for a nuclear­ neering supervision, equipment under construction with installed Corp. of housing since November 2019, along with the provinces of Zhe­ based heat plant in Heilongjiang manufacturing, operational main­ capacity reaching 15.53 GW, which The plant’s unit one facility began including SNPC’s dormitory and jiang, Guangdong and Fujian. And province, which will be the first tenance and disposal of radioac­ in leading worldwide. operating in October 2018 while its some residents of Haiyang, said the Shandong’s Yantai city will become inland reactor no longer associat­ tive waste. Nuclear projects in the country unit two facility began operating in company. a center for nuclear development in ed with electricity generation,” All of these have laid a solid foun­ will focus on large­scale mass pro­ January of last year. A 300,000­metric­ton large­scale North China. Wei said. dation for the country’s secure and duction of domestically developed Being the country’s first commer­ nuclear desalination demonstration An analyst said China’s nuclear “Both efforts in Shandong and efficient development of nuclear third­generation reactors includ­ cial nuclear heating project, the project that provides clean water for power plant construction in the Heilongjiang underscore China’s power, Wang said. ing Hualong One, which is already plant’s two Westinghouse AP1000 residents and industries in the area coming years is expected to advance resolution to decarbonize its ener­ The State Council, the country’s officially in mass production units, which extract non­radioac­ will also begin operations this year, steadily, playing a more significant gy­intensive heating sector,” he Cabinet, has approved construc­ mode, according to the nuclear tive steam from the facility’s sec­ it said. role in the country’s energy mix and said. tion of four homegrown Hualong society.