A recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee called for ensuring the supply and stable prices of energy resources and preparing for spring ploughing.

From last year's Central Economic Work Conference to emphasize the correct understanding and grasp of primary product supply security, to the further requirements of this meeting, the Party Central Committee has always attached great importance to energy and food issues. In the face of uncertainties in the international environment, we must do a good job in ensuring production and supply and lay a solid foundation for development.

Build a solid foundation for development:

We will maintain the bottom line of energy and food security

Since the beginning of this year, the COVID-19 epidemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have led to increased risks and challenges. Global energy, food and other commodity markets have fluctuated sharply. China's economic development environment has become more complex and severe, and new challenges have been faced to stabilize growth and prices.

Energy and food security is "the biggest of the country", ensuring energy and food security is a major strategic fundamental issue. The key is to hold the bottom line of safety, consolidate the foundation of stable production and supply in agriculture and oil and gas, and take the initiative of development in our own hands.

Energy is the artery of industrialization and urbanization, and also the basis for the stable operation of production and life. Last year, the phenomenon of "power rationing" occurred in some places, which had a certain impact on economic development and people's lives. Energy is a primary product, and price changes will have an impact on the price of the entire industrial chain. Higher prices for energy products raise the cost of manufacturing downstream industrial goods, pushing up the overall price level.

Yu Bing, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, said that changes in the international situation have brought new challenges, and large fluctuations in international energy prices have put pressure on domestic supply.

Coal, crude oil and natural gas are the three main energy sources in China. China's dependence on imports of oil and natural gas exceeds 70% and 40%, respectively. In the first quarter, the value of natural gas imports increased by 68.7% year on year, but the actual import volume decreased by 5.1%.

Wang Lining, executive director of the carbon neutral Research Center of the China Petroleum Research Institute of Economics and Technology, said that the high price fluctuation of the energy market has caused the cost to rise, and it is necessary to adopt comprehensive policies and precise regulation, accelerate the development and application of advanced mining technology, increase domestic production capacity, build a solid foundation for the stability of energy prices, and respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of domestic supply.

Since the beginning of this year, the food issue has attracted much attention. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and other relevant agencies recently jointly released a report on the global food crisis, pointing out that the number of people around the world facing daily food shortages hit a record high last year, and this year's Russia-Ukraine crisis affects global food production, which may further push up the number.

In recent years, China's grain harvest in succession, grain and other important agricultural products in general reserves are abundant, but some agricultural imports have increased. Russia's wheat and corn exports account for 29% and 19% of global trade, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict has triggered a rise in international grain prices, increasing the difficulty and cost of China's imports. In the first quarter, China imported 20.28 million tons of soybeans, the amount decreased by 4.2%, but the amount increased by 20.9%.

Cheng Guoqiang, a professor at the School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, said that the more risks and challenges we face, the more important it is to stabilize agriculture. Whenever there is a disturbance in the world, many countries will first cover their "grain bags" and take restrictions on the export of grain and other agricultural products, which warns us that we must stand on our own feet and hold the rice bowl in China.

Stable energy supply:

Make comprehensive plans based on national conditions

With the increasing temperature, many businesses are preparing for the air conditioning season. Energy such as electricity is the key to meet the summer kurtosis.

Wang Peng, executive director of the National Energy Development Strategy Institute of North China Electric Power University, said that there are still some difficulties in ensuring energy supply. Last year, high coal prices led to heavy losses in the coal power industry, and this year's complex international situation impacted the international energy market, and electricity supply and demand in some regions will remain tight during the peak summer and winter.

To ensure energy security, we must base ourselves on energy and resource endowments, adhere to the principle of first establishment and then destruction, and make comprehensive plans. The gradual withdrawal of traditional energy sources must be based on the safe and reliable replacement of new energy sources. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system.

Rich coal, poor oil and little gas is the resource endowment of our country, which determines the main role of coal in the energy system. Last year, coal power accounted for less than 50% of the installed capacity, produced 60% of the country's electricity, assumed 70% of the peak task, and promoted the stable supply of electricity.

Yu Bing said that it is necessary to deal with the relationship between development and emission reduction, overall and local, long-term goals and short-term goals, through the implementation of the "three reform linkage" this key move, to further consolidate the backstop guarantee role of coal power, improve the level of clean and efficient development, fully tap the flexible adjustment capacity, and better protect the security of China's energy and power supply.

In the face of the current situation, all localities and departments focus on the overall situation, strengthen coordination, accelerate the release of domestic advanced coal production capacity, and ensure the stable supply of electricity and coal energy:

-- Giving play to the role of coal as the main energy source. China will add 300 million tons of coal production capacity this year. Use market-oriented and law-based measures to guide coal prices to operate within a reasonable range; The People's Bank of China announced on Thursday that it will increase the special re-loan quota for clean and efficient use of coal by 100 billion yuan.

-- The National Energy Administration proposed to continue to increase oil and gas exploration and development efforts, and resolutely complete the established goals of returning to 200 million tons of crude oil production this year and continuing to steadily increase natural gas production. We will vigorously develop wind power photovoltaics and advance the construction of major hydropower and nuclear power projects in an orderly manner.

-- Actively making good use of the international market. From May 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, China will implement a provisional tax rate of zero for all coal imports to further promote energy supply.

In the first quarter of this year, supply constraints such as the "lack of electricity" in the previous period were significantly alleviated, and the national economic cycle was further unimpeded. The output of raw coal, crude oil and natural gas increased by 10.3%, 4.4% and 6.6% respectively, and the installed capacity of renewable energy increased by 25.41 million kW, accounting for 80% of the country's new installed power generation capacity.

The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that the next step is to continue to do a good job of ensuring energy supply, play the role of coal as the main energy source, fully release advanced production capacity, and promote energy saving and emission reduction transformation, flexibility transformation, and heating transformation of coal power units.

To ensure a good harvest:

Bottom line work season to season

Spring fights for the day, summer fights for the time. Do not miss the farming time to ensure the annual grain harvest, the relationship between stable prices and stable ballast stone.

Deng Xiaogang, vice minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, recently said that this year, affected by the sporadic distribution of the epidemic and fluctuations in the international market, the harvest of grain is indeed facing greater pressure.

Coordinating epidemic prevention and control with agricultural production, responding to rising prices of agricultural supplies, preventing and controlling pests and diseases, and extreme weather are all issues that must be addressed in grain production this year. Various localities and departments have adopted a series of measures to strengthen deployment

In view of the large proportion of weak seedlings in late sowing wheat, the central government allocated 1.6 billion yuan in subsidies for promoting strong and stable production of summer grain wheat to support major producing provinces in promoting strong and stable production, preventing and increasing production, and preventing and controlling diseases and insect pests. The central government allocated 20 billion yuan to subsidize actual grain farmers, raised the minimum purchase price of wheat by 2 cents per catty, and deployed the National Development and Reform Commission to release 1 million tons of national potash fertilizer reserves. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs opened a hotline to coordinate and open up the blocking points of farmers returning to the countryside and going to the field, agricultural machinery road operations, and agricultural resources allocation and transportation...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that ensuring annual grain production remains above 1.3 trillion jin is the bottom line task, and it is necessary to strictly implement the responsibility of the Party and government for food security, fight the first battle of summer grain harvest, strive to seize the early rice harvest, and do everything possible to seize the autumn grain harvest.

The data show that the area of winter wheat in China is stable at 336 million mu, and the current growth is basically the same as the perennial; About 940 million mu of grain was sown in spring, an increase over the previous year. At present, 50% of the grain sown in spring has passed, faster than last year.

Now less than a month from the large-scale harvest of summer grain, but also through pests and diseases, dry hot air, lodging and other passes, all localities should strengthen fertilizer and water control, strengthen classification management. At present, the land area of early rice is expected to increase steadily, and field management should be strengthened in the later stage.

Autumn grain is the bulk of the annual grain production. All regions should guide farmers to plant enough, stabilize corn, increase double-cropping rice, develop regenerative rice, expand soybeans, agricultural technicians should guide farmers to implement key technologies, do a good job of disaster prevention and reduction, and achieve "dragon's food" and "worm's food".

The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that the next step is to strengthen the logistics of spring ploughing fertilizers in key areas, central reserves of grain and oil and other materials to ensure that spring ploughing is not missed to ensure food security.

Bearing in mind the overall situation and taking a comprehensive approach, we will strengthen capacity building to ensure independent and controllable energy supply. Focus on the key, season to ensure a good harvest all year round. Only by ensuring the supply of primary products can we increase the confidence of high-quality development and firmly maintain the cornerstone of the national economy and people's livelihood.

(Xinhua News Agency, May 8)