The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, Wednesday ordered local authorities to take actions to prevent hoarding and price speculation in grain markets and work to maintain market order.

The NDRC accused some businesses of blindly buying large amounts of grain, then bidding up grain prices following adverse weather in some regions. "This leads to farmers' reluctance to sell and enterprises hoarding," it said in a statement on its website.

Such move not only disrupts the normal order of grain markets, but also undermines the government's efforts to avoid possible inflation, it said.

Further, the NDRC asked grain reserve enterprises to stop government purchasing when market prices went above the government-set levels.

It also urged regional grain and pricing authorities to improve inspecting the management of government purchasing for grain and oilseed to curb price manipulation.

Reserve enterprises violating pricing regulations would be banned from government purchasing for three years, according to the statement.

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