Survey Report on the Price and Cost Trends of Agricultural Machinery Operation Services during the "Three Summers" Period in 2023

Agricultural Mechanization Situation, Issue 10, 2023

Editor's note: Recently, the Department of Agricultural Mechanization Management, together with the Agricultural Mechanization Station, conducted an electronic questionnaire survey on the price changes of wheat harvesting and other operations during the "Three Summers" period, and formed a survey analysis report. It is now published for reference by relevant parties.

Survey Report on the Price and Cost Trends of Agricultural Machinery Operation Services during the "Three Summers" Period in 2023

In order to scientifically assess the production situation of agricultural mechanization, the Department of Agricultural Mechanization Management, together with the Agricultural Mechanization Station, conducted an electronic questionnaire survey on the price and cost trends of agricultural machinery operation services during the "Three Summers" period in 2023. The relevant information is as follows.

1、 Survey sample distribution

This survey adopts the form of online questionnaires, and a total of 600 agricultural machinery socialized service organizations from 8 major wheat producing provinces were received. The specific sample distribution is shown in the table below.

Survey Sample Distribution Table

province

Number of samples

Number of samples of self operated area

Number of samples with intention to participate in cross regional assignments

Under 1000 acres

1000-5000 acres

Over 5000 acres

Hebei

seventy

forty-one

eighteen

eleven

thirty-six

Shanxi

sixty-five

thirty

twenty-one

fourteen

twenty-one

Jiangsu

twenty-six

ten

fifteen

one

ten

Anhui

seventy-nine

twenty-four

forty-two

thirteen

thirty-seven

Shandong

seventy-four

twenty-seven

thirty-seven

ten

thirty-one

Henan

thirty-eight

sixteen

seventeen

five

twenty-five

Hubei

one hundred and ninety-two

ninety-six

eighty-three

thirteen

sixty-one

Shaanxi

fifty-six

twenty-nine

twenty-one

six

thirty-eight

total

six hundred

two hundred and seventy-three

two hundred and fifty-four

seventy-three

two hundred and fifty-nine

2、 Trends in the Prices of Agricultural Machinery Operations during the "Three Summers" Period

From the investigation, it is expected that the prices of agricultural machinery operations will slightly increase during the "Three Summers" period.

（1） Wheat machine harvesting operation price

The expected price for wheat machine harvesting is 65 yuan/mu, an increase of 5 yuan compared to last year and an increase of 8.3% year-on-year.

（2） Mechanical planting operation price

The expected price for corn and soybean machine sowing operations is 50 yuan/mu, an increase of 10 yuan compared to last year and a year-on-year increase of 25%; The operating price of a high-performance corn seeder is 60 yuan/mu, which is about 10 yuan higher than that of a regular corn seeder.

3、 Analysis of the Reasons for the Changes in Agricultural Machinery Operation Prices During the "Three Summers" Period

From the investigation, it can be seen that the main factors affecting the prices of agricultural machinery operations during the "Three Summers" period are changes in fuel costs and labor costs, involving 544 and 472 samples respectively, accounting for 90.7% and 78.7% of the total sample size; Secondly, there are changes in the purchase and maintenance costs of equipment, involving 410 samples, accounting for 68.3% of the total sample size; Factors such as the number of machines and tools available, and the integration of supply and demand information have little impact on the price of job services.

（1） Fuel consumption

It is expected that during the "Three Summers" period, the fuel consumption for wheat machine harvesting will be 3 L/mu, and the fuel consumption for corn and soybean machine sowing will be 3 L/mu; The oil consumption for rice machine transplanting is 2 L/mu.

（2） Fuel price situation

It is expected that the diesel price during the "Three Summers" period will be 7.4 yuan/liter, a decrease of 7.5% compared to the same period last year. Taking Hubei Province, which has the largest sample size in this survey, as an example, the price of 0 # diesel in Hubei Province was 7.4 yuan/liter on May 13, 2023, a decrease of 9.1% compared to the same period in 2022, but still 17.6% higher than the same period in 2021.

（3） Cost situation of machine operators and employees

The expected increase in the cost of manual labor accounts for 83.7% of the total sample size. After the end of the epidemic, labor mobility has increased, and there are more options for operators to work. The number of operators is insufficient, and the supply of skilled operators is in short supply; In addition, with the rise of prices and living costs, the willingness of operators to increase wages is strong, and the cost of retaining operators is also increasing year by year. The survey shows that the lack of high-level mechanized operations and the continuous increase in labor costs are the main reasons for the increase in the cost of manual labor, involving 443 and 507 samples, accounting for 73.8% and 84.5% of the total sample size.

（4） Supply of spare parts

The expected increase in the purchase price of agricultural machinery parts accounts for 77.5% of the total sample size. The increase in raw material prices and logistics costs of spare parts is the main reason for the increase in the purchase price of agricultural machinery spare parts, involving 423 and 268 samples, accounting for 70.5% and 44.7% of the total samples.

4、 Cross regional operation situation

From the survey results, 259 samples clearly stated their readiness to carry out cross regional operations, accounting for 43.2% of the total sample size; 215 samples clearly stated that cross regional operations would not be carried out, accounting for 35.8% of the total number of samples; 126 samples indicate uncertainty about whether to participate in cross regional operations.

5、 Facing problems and suggestions

From the survey situation, the main problem faced during the "Three Summers" period is weather changes, involving 206 samples, accounting for 34.3% of the total survey samples; Secondly, fuel prices are relatively high, involving 175 samples, accounting for 29.2% of the total survey samples. The lack of capable operators (drivers) and other issues did not exceed 20% of the total sample size; There are only 2 samples reflecting the issue of insufficient supply of spare parts.

The main suggestions of socialized service organizations for agricultural machinery in various regions are as follows: 65 samples suggest "increasing fuel subsidies or lowering fuel prices"; 46 samples suggest "strengthening the training of machine operators"; 37 samples suggest "increasing subsidies for agricultural machinery operations or increasing job prices"; 27 samples suggest "providing a job information sharing platform or providing information docking services"; 26 samples suggest "strengthening safety supervision, training efforts, and guiding safe operation and production".