Salt rush to salt change suspended excuse salt industry will adhere to the franchise

Last Wednesday, officials from the Salt Industry Company and the Salt Bureau of major provinces in the country all came to Beijing to participate in a closed-door meeting within the salt industry. After a heated discussion, they reached a consensus that the salt franchise system was correct.

This means that the salt industry reform that has been in operation for 10 years and will be implemented this year may still be difficult to trace.

Originally, 100 salt production companies will enter the sales market this year, thereby breaking the salt franchise situation.

However, the plan really cannot catch up with the changes.

During the closed-door meeting last week, representatives of salt industry agencies in many provinces mentioned the salt buying incident that occurred two weeks ago. They believe that the salt franchise system has played an important role in stabilizing the market and ensuring supply.

Dong Zhihua, chairman of the China Salt Association, concluded: “The salt franchise used to be needed in the past, but it is still needed in the future.” In Dong Zhihua’s view, the salt buying has fully proved that our salt industry insists that the franchise is correct. He said that the salt franchise still needs some time in the future, and it may still be released later, but now it seems impossible in the near future.

According to Fang’s argument, under the mediation of the China National Salt Association and China National Salt Corporation, the reform of the salt industry will be difficult to break through during the 12th five-year period.

The people who are not close to the NDRC have said that the reform of the salt industry system has reached a stalemate. "The specific next step of how to reform, when to open the franchise, has once again become unknown."

The above sources stated that at the end of February, the China Salt Association also exchanged opinions with the leaders of the Division of Structural Reform of the Development and Reform Commission on the reform of the salt industry system. "The two sides began to understand the opinions of the industry from the initial point of view of conflict and conflict, adopted the association's recommendations, which means that the year is definitely still a franchise, and the fastest to fully liberalize it will also have to wait until 2016."

In the internal meeting last week, representatives from a number of companies including Guangxi, Yunnan, and Jiangxi all emphasized the necessity of salt franchise. Dong Zhihua said: "If you let go in 2011, the consequences will be unimaginable. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. This purchase has once again proved that the salt franchise policy is wise and correct and absolutely necessary."

Dong Zhihua concluded: “The salt franchise used to be needed in the past, needs it now, and it is still needed in the future.” He emphasized that through this incident, all parties faced the salt industry more deeply. Some misunderstandings before the salt industry can be reversed. The particularity and importance of the salt industry have been recognized and recognized by the whole society. It is more advantageous to adhere to salt to consolidate the franchise.

Within the salt industry, due to the implementation of the franchise, China National Salt Group and local salt companies control all salt sales markets other than industrial salt, and each year determines the output of production companies through plans and orders.

Not only that, at present, most of the salt companies and salt bureaus in the country are “two brands and one set of horses.” Salt industry companies are both salt and industrial salt managers, and at the same time they are the government administration of salt management. The department also holds the right to formulate salt plans for production companies.

The China Salt Association is the representative of this body of interest. According to statistics, since the founding of the China Salt Association, the first four sessions of the council and the Zhongyan Company were both “a set of people and horses, and two brands”. The current director of the Zhong Yan Association, Dong Zhihua, also served as the Zhongyan Company from 1995 to 2004. General Manager and President of the China Salt Association.

For production enterprises, whether or not they can obtain the salt production plan index each year is a matter of life. In the process of obtaining the indicators, the corruption caused by the relationship and the finding of acquaintances is already a semi-public secret within the salt industry. In 2007, the Zhejiang Salt Industry System had the largest corruption case since the founding of the People's Republic of China, involving 10 counties and cities, among which the leadership of the Hangzhou Salt Administration Bureau was completely annihilated; in 2008, the Guangdong Salt Industry Corporation also had corruption cases.

According to media reports, the salt produced by manufacturers was sold at 450 yuan/ton to Zhongyan Group and local salt companies. When it reached consumers, it became 2,000 yuan/ton to 2,800 yuan/ton.

A related person in the Hubei Salt Industry Company stated that before the reform of the salt industry system was promoted, the production companies were behind the scenes. In 2009, more than 20 companies had jointly signed a letter asking for salt reform to allow production companies to enter the market. He disclosed that the Sino-Salmon Association maintains its franchise system mainly for the benefit of sales companies, and has not considered more production companies. The basic responsibility for maintaining a franchise is the salt companies that are responsible for distribution and sales. Those wishing to promote reforms include some salt companies and salt companies that have upstream resources.

The leader of the newspaper learned that the reform of the salt system has been implemented since 2001. By 2008, from the original Salt and Water Management Office of the Economic and Trade Commission to the reform plan of the salt circulation system proposed by the Development and Reform Commission's Circulation Department, different ministries proposed five reforms of the salt industry system. However, no final draft was formed for various reasons.

The reform of the salt industry system began to accelerate. It was due in March 2009 that the National People's Congress “Government Work Report” proposed to speed up the reform of the salt industry system. Afterwards, the Division of Consumer Products of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Department of Consumer Products of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology established the Leading Group for Salt Industry System Reform. After months of research, the leading group put forward a draft plan for full liberalization of salt franchise in 2011 in November 2009.

Although the draft was passed by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Health, the plan was changed to a partial release in 2011 under the mediation of China National Salt Association and China National Salt Group. In 2011, 100 salt production enterprises will be issued fixed salt production licenses and wholesale licenses, valid for one year.

Dong Zhihua recalled that at that time, it was definitely not acceptable to say that he did not agree with marketization. “We propose two steps in marketization. The first step should be 100 fixed-point factories, plus a dozen factories with multiple types of salt, fixed-point companies, and sales of salt together with salt companies, with joint and competitive.”

However, this is not the end result of the salt monopoly. Afterwards, the China National Salt Association continued to report to the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and relevant senior officials, making the original reforms repeatedly postponed.

In the proposal made by the China National Salt Association, it provided another timetable for the marketization reform of salt: from 2011 to 2012, it continued to implement the salt franchise policy. The next three years are transitional periods. The implementation of franchising was implemented on the premise of canceling the national salt plan and national pricing. That is to say, the provincial salt companies that have obtained fixed salt production licenses now sell salt, and the designated production companies can use their own small packaging brands to directly enter the market, and they can also join the salt industry companies to break the boundaries of administrative boundaries and conduct orderly competition. After this, the operation of government and enterprises will be abolished and full marketization will be achieved.

A relevant person in charge of a salt manufacturing company stated that the communication between the salt association and the upper level is still able to grasp their mentality. Previously, the reasons for insisting on the franchise by the China National Salt Association and all levels of salt companies were to prevent iodine deficiency disorders. "But then the Ministry of Health has already expressed its position that it does not support the franchise. If it is based on the prevention of iodine deficiency disease, it would be too pale."

The newspaper learned that the main reasons for the later letter from the China Salt Association were food safety and social stability. "The salt storm this time also coincides with this theme, seizing the decision-maker's mentality." The responsible person said.

The Next Monopoly The role of maintaining the franchise system for grabbing salt storms, Dong Zhihua is not as optimistic as local representatives. He cautioned the head of the local salt company, do not blindly optimistic, that the matter through this matter, the franchise saved.

Dong Zhihua said, “One year, two years, or even three or four years are not a big problem. We must dispel this ideology, and the intensity of reforms continues to increase, and the pace of reform continues to accelerate. To continue the franchise, we must also change. To carry out internal reforms, we must also change our old habits, old traditions, and old styles, and operate a new model under a franchise system with a brand new look."

He also admitted that the two-step move proposed at the time was actually a delay, in order to buffer it. In Dong Zhihua's view, the core issue of the salt industry reform is that society cannot intervene. It is also within our salt merchants. In this circle, we must do it ourselves.

According to an insider of the Salt Industry Association, since last year, the association has paid attention to the relationship between uniting production companies and selling companies. The relevant person of Chongqing Salt Industry Co., Ltd. said that at the current stage, while insisting on the franchise, the sales companies in the next stage must strengthen reforms and strengthen cooperation with production companies. The reform should be effective, benefit to the society, and work together with the production plant to create benefits.

According to the above-mentioned sources, for many years, as long as salt companies only rely on one salt, they eat salt, which has led to conflicts with production companies over the years. "The reason why the salt industry is facing reforms is mainly internal tossing. Such a small industry cannot be tossed in its own right, but who cares about it."

Mao Xiaofei, assistant researcher of the International Law Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the salt industry company has no special products and special business methods and is only responsible for circulation. There are many logistics companies in the circulation field and the competition is very good. Why the salt company can get such profits in circulation, in fact, there is only a "franchise" such a special power.

At the meeting, the opinions of representatives of local salt companies were basically consistent. The salt storm quickly subsided, mainly due to the advantages of the franchise mechanism, which ensured uniform prices and reasonable reserves, in the face of emergencies. Only a franchise can take on these responsibilities. These are all important institutional guarantees for quelling buying.

But opposition also exists. Ho Hairen, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Law Institute who has long been concerned about the reform of the salt industry, expressed disapproval. He said that the reason why the wave of salt seizures has subsided quickly is that the people know the truth and have a correct understanding of the relationship between iodized salt and anti-nuclear radiation.

He stressed that if not franchising this time, it will not be so serious. For example, because of the diversification of the sales subject, the public can have more choices, and the sellers are also diverse. He will judge according to his own situation because they are competitive. The salt industry is not competitive now.

In He Hairen's view, China's salt factory is open, it does not lack salt, there is a lot of salt production, but he is not free to sell, is the salt company to franchise. This institutional problem and the wave of salt catching have some deep causal relationships behind. To see that one of the factors that led to the storm of salvaging salt is that the sales channels are too single.

Zhu Boshan, a state-owned investment expert, said that now the salt industry has formed a bureaucratic system from the top down. This is to be broken. The current pattern of this kind of nondescript, both government and enterprise, this problem is very obvious.