When can the salt industry really come to an end?

Some time ago, Xu Shaoshi, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, signed the “Decision No. 10 of the Development and Reform Commission in 2014” and decided to repeal the “Administrative Measures for Monopoly License for Salt”. This move has triggered the question of "the salt franchise really needs to be abolished?" and "China's salt monopoly is going to break?" Recently, according to the “China Business News” report, local salt companies and salt units, and even the salt government departments have a salt storm, the Chinese salt industry franchise in the end what happened?

The repeal of the "Administrative Measures on Salt Monopoly License" is only a power handover

In China at the tip of the tongue, salt is the first of many. Although today, for most people, ordinary salt has become a commodity in the supermarket where two bags of money are freely available, it still has a major influence on our daily lives. In China today, only salt and tobacco implement a special system and purchase and sale are ordered.

In the 1990s, in order to achieve the goal of “eliminating iodine deficiency disorders in 2000,” China popularized iodized salt as soon as possible. The State Council issued a document in 1994 agreeing that “a special franchise for salt is implemented”. In the same year, the "Regulations on Iodine Deficiency Hazards Controlled by Salt Iodine" was promulgated. In 1996, the "Salt Franchise Measures" was enacted and China officially established a salt franchise system.

In the late 1990s, there was a call for the removal of salt franchise. In recent years, such appeals have become increasingly frequent. Therefore, when the NDRC recently announced the repeal of the "Administrative Measures on Salt Monopoly License," the outside world still heard whether this was a discussion to abolish the salt franchise signal. Behind this discussion, it also represented a beautiful expectation and once again raised The public’s enthusiasm for the reform of China’s salt industry system.

The "Measures for the Administration of Salt Monopoly License" was promulgated and implemented on April 28, 2006, and was formulated in accordance with the "Special Measures for Salt Disposition". The core content of this approach is to manage the salt franchise permit, and make it clear that the National Development and Reform Commission, as the State Council's salt authority, is responsible for the approval, issuance, and supervision of salt monopoly licenses.

Only in 2008, the national salt industry management function was adjusted by the National Development and Reform Commission to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to the request of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission only abolished the “Administrative Measures on Salt Monopoly License”. An official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, ruling the salt industry, rumored that “from the perspective of the National Development and Reform Commission, I might think that this was originally done in the name of the National Development and Reform Commission. But now the work of salt inspection management has been assigned to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and it may feel that it has existed again. Without much significance, it was abolished."

It may be that many people did not see it. Instead of repealing the "Salt Franchise License Management Regulations" instead of the "Salt Franchise Regulations" and repealing the "Administrative Measures on Salt Monopoly Licenses", it was only a transfer of power between the government's different functional departments, and The abolition of the salt franchise system has nothing to do with wind horses.

However, there is hardly a persuasive argument for supporting the salt industry.

The biggest reason for formulating a salt industry franchise is “supplementing iodine by the whole people”. Nowadays, those who have excessive iodine have to bear the pain of a single sale of iodized salt.

In fact, China's existing salt franchise system does not necessarily have to say so "historical origins". It must be traced back to Han Wudi's "salt and iron monopoly". On the contrary, China's current salt franchise system is quite “young”, which is the salt iodization program that began in China in the 1990s. In the first article of the “Special Measures on Salt Served by the State Council” issued by the State Council in 1996, these Measures were formulated in order to strengthen the management of salt, ensure the effective implementation of salt iodization and protect the health of citizens. From this point of view, the protection of salt and iodine is the biggest reason for the monopoly of the salt industry.

Since the implementation of the “all salt iodization” measures, nearly 20 years after today, China still insists on promoting the use of iodized salt for all people. This raises new issues for citizens’ health. In the field of iodine and thyroid diseases in China, the most famous expert is Professor Teng Weiping from China Medical University. In 2006, the team led by the team published a study for a total of 3,761 residents of Liaoning Panshan (mild iodine deficiency), Liaoning Zhangwu (iodine excess amount) and Hebei Huanghua (overdose iodine) for a period of 5 years. Epidemiological Investigation. It was found that excess iodine can induce and promote hypothyroidism. Almost at the same time, in 2005, the World Health Organization described China as "more than appropriate" based on the monitoring results of the median urinary iodine in children in China.

When the State Council issued the "Regulations on the Administration of Iodine Deficiency from Salt Iodization," it fully took into account local conditions. For example, Article 15 of the Regulations, in addition to high iodine areas, gradually implemented the supply of iodized salt to all citizens, and to Liaoning, In areas with high iodine such as Zhejiang, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Fujian, iodized salt is not required. But in actual operation, iodized salt all over the country was launched all the time. "Iodized salt" became the biggest weight for the salt franchise. It is very difficult for you to buy unsalted salt in the supermarket.

Moreover, from the perspective of international experience, the popularization of iodized salt is not necessarily related to salt franchise. According to the statistics of the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD), there are more than 30 countries in the world that have iodized salt coverage of more than 90%, and only a few countries such as China implement the salt franchise system.

Industrial salt poisoning is our long-term indoctrination, but it is often a means of winning the trust of the people.

On many occasions, Zhongyan Company emphasizes that the implementation of salt franchise is for the sake of consumers' food safety and prevents the penetration of industrial salt. This kind of argument for food safety for everyone's consideration is easily recognized. So, is industrial salt so scary? According to Fang Zhouzi, a science writer, there is no need to worry that "industrial salt soy sauce," "industrial salt and salted eggs," and "industrial salt and pig blood" can be harmful to the human body. The more impurities in industrial salt are basically water, and they are no more than edible salt. More heavy metals are also free from sodium nitrite. The purpose of prohibiting industrial salt consumption is to make the salt industry profitable, not because industrial salt is harmful.

However, because industrial salt sometimes also refers to sodium nitrite, the so-called industrial salt poisoning is eating sodium nitrite, and the salt industry department's annual publicity of "industrial salt poisoning" is also a case of sodium nitrite eating. The comparison of industrial salt and sodium nitrite seems to be an intentional confusion. A salt industry expert said, "Industrial salt has long been considered as a toxic substance speculation, demonizing, to a large extent, salt system maintenance of the franchise system."

In recent years, both the media and policy research fields have advocated that the reform of the salt industry is becoming more and more appealing, which makes the salt industry interest groups feel deeply at risk. According to columnist Jing Chengzi interviewed officials from the former State Council Economic and Trade Commission Salt Industry Management Office, whenever the “Salt Reform” blows out, the salt company will do a full-page report in the column of “Corporate Style” in the central newspaper, rendering industrial salt hazards. Like the Welfare Lottery Center, which publishes the Lottery bizarre awards news in various urban newspapers all year round, it is actually advertising.

Even from a historical perspective, the reasons for “guarantee tax” no longer exist

The long-term implementation of the salt industry franchise in Chinese history, the reason why the financial officials insisted on the franchise, mainly because of tax considerations, because it is the people's indispensable things, control salt, it controls the lifeblood of taxation. However, with the development of society, the contribution of the salt industry to tax revenue is no longer comparable. The role of salt franchise in increasing fiscal revenue has been gradually reduced: the percentage of salt tax in national tax revenue has decreased from 5.49% in 1950 to 2006. 0.04%.

Since "supply of iodine for the people" does not seem to be needed now, industrial salt is not so terrible to be publicized. The contribution of salt franchise to fiscal revenue is also minimal. Is there any reason to continue to implement the salt industry franchise?

The resistance to salt reform is huge, but the responsibility is not entirely in the company.

The reform of the salt industry, which is considered to be “the least risk-free and has the lowest technological content of reform design programs,” has encountered the greatest resistance.

Chen Guowei, who once served as deputy director of the State Economic and Trade Commission's Operation Bureau, believes that in many monopolized industries, the reform of the salt system is not complicated, and it is the least risky and the least technical content of the reform design scheme. However, the promotion of the reform has encountered the greatest resistance. . Dong Zhihua, chairman of the China Salt Industry Association, said at last year’s National Salt Industry Diversification Exchange Conference that for more than 10 years, the relevant national ministries and commissions have formulated six plans for the reform of the salt industry in China, but “these plans are due to various reasons. Stopped."

At the beginning of last year, a special campaign “E-commerce collectives took away salt” was an example of continuing to implement the salt franchise system. At that time, Taobao, Dangdang, JD.com and other e-commerce companies had taken down the shelf salt. The reason was that they did not obtain a salt retail license.

China’s salt is considered to be the biggest obstacle to reform, but the bigger resistance actually comes from local forces.

The "Research on China's Salt Industry System Reform" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission's Institute of Economic System and Management in April 2011 also acknowledged that the "salt franchise is costly". The problems include low operating efficiency, monopolistic growth and corruption, prominent production and marketing contradictions, and salt franchise. Expansion and so on. The biggest “black hand” that causes these problems is often thought to be neutral salt. However, the sales area of ​​China National Salt Corporation covers only 34% of the country’s land area, and it is mostly in the vast northwest region; the salt wholesale amount is also only It accounts for 17.7% of the total national salt plan.

“People do not know that the salt of Zhong Yan cannot enter many places.” Among the 11 companies that are engaged in commercial wholesale, many of them are cooperating with local governments and joint ventures, and from the geographical point of view, the main sphere of influence of Zhong Yan Located in remote areas. The “salt companies” that people say are, in many cases, actually local state-owned enterprises under the management of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission at the provincial level. In addition to the nominal business guidance of these companies and Zhongshang, personnel and finances are not subject to salt. control.

This is more evident in industrial salt. As far as the salt industry is concerned, there are two main categories: First, industrial salt, which accounts for about 80% of the total salt consumption; and the other type is salt. If you say “salt franchise”, you can only accurately say “salt salt franchise” because as early as in 1995, the state’s management of industrial salt has been liberalized, and the former State Development Planning Commission’s “Improvement of industrial salt supply and marketing system and price management”. The "Notice of the Measures" has cancelled the industrial salt franchise and inter-provincial licensing system.

It has been 19 years since industrial salt cancelled the franchise system. However, it has so far remained on paper and no real release has been achieved. The industrial salt operators across the country are constantly being staged by local salt administrations to illegally detain goods and impose fines in violation of local laws and regulations. Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Jiangsu, and Henan, etc. In the case of the Salt Bureau, the case of seizure was discontinued. In local courts, there were no fewer than 1,000 crimes involving the illegal operation of “public sales of industrial salt” pending trial.

The reason why local salt administration is so rampant is local administrative regulations. Taking the "Administrative Measures for the Implementation of the Salt Industry in Jiangxi Province" as an example, after being revised in 1998, it still clearly stipulates that "for the use of salt in the industrial and other industries, it must purchase and guarantee exclusive salt for the provincial salt wholesaler." The "Measures for the Implementation of the Salt Industry Regulations of Jiangsu Province" also stipulates that "industrial salt belongs to the scope of the franchise." It is these multi-national salt management regulations that conflict with the superior laws that make many salt companies and salt units miserable: obviously the country's open-purchase industrial salt, but was seized under the name of trafficking in “private salt”. Confiscated, may be the buyer, may also be the seller.

Conclusion

"A small bag of salt and two dollars, people may feel not expensive, but also accustomed to the price," This habit is the salt system can not think about the best amulet reform.