The so-called price adjustment fund is a special fund used by the government to regulate market prices, balance supply and demand or support operators. 1988 the State Council clearly put forward the requirement of establishing non-staple food price adjustment funds in cities across the country in the "Notice on Trial Implementation of Appropriate Subsidies for Employees from Retail Price Changes of Major Non-staple Foods". Article 27 of the Price Law stipulates: "The government can establish an important commodity reserve system, set up a price adjustment fund, regulate prices and stabilize the market." Up to now, most cities in China have established the system of non-staple food price adjustment fund. Its main contents are:

1. Setting range of price adjustment fund. The price adjustment fund is set up to adjust some commodities that are prone to market price fluctuations and have a significant impact on the national economy and people's livelihood. These commodities mainly include agricultural and sideline products such as grain, cotton, oil, meat, eggs, vegetables and sugar. At present, the established price adjustment funds in China mainly include non-staple food price adjustment fund and grain risk adjustment fund.

2. Raising of price adjustment funds. From the experience of various places, the main sources of price adjustment funds are: original price subsidies for staple foods such as grain, vegetables and pork or government budget allocations; Collecting from the society mainly involves hotels, tourism, construction, catering, service, industry and commerce, transportation and other industries.

3. The use of price adjustment funds. The first is to support commodity production. Including financial support for the construction of production bases for controlled commodities and incentives or subsidies for producers. The second is the policy price difference subsidy for circulation enterprises. Entrusted by the government or implementing the government's price policy, circulation enterprises buy goods at high prices and sell goods at a price level lower than the operating cost plus normal profits, resulting in policy losses. This part of the loss is paid by the government using the price adjustment fund. The third is to support market construction. The government can use the price adjustment fund to support the construction of wholesale markets and direct sales markets for certain commodities that are conducive to price control.

The establishment of the price adjustment fund has played a very good role in curbing inflation, maintaining the price stability of people's daily necessities, preventing the drastic fluctuation of market prices, and maintaining social stability. It is an effective measure to manage prices by economic means. However, because the price adjustment fund system in China is established according to the needs of reform, it is still in the exploratory stage and needs to be improved and perfected in practice. The main tasks are: First, according to the needs and possibilities, gradually expand the collection scope and channels of price adjustment funds, and gradually establish special price adjustment funds for a few important resources such as oil while consolidating and improving the current system of price adjustment funds for grain and non-staple foods. The second is to improve the use of price adjustment funds, improve the efficiency of use, especially to prevent misappropriation. Third, it is necessary to legalize the price adjustment fund, clarify its position, function, source of funds and scope of use, and institutionalize and standardize the work of the price adjustment fund.

The price adjustment fund must be established after approval in accordance with the examination and approval procedures prescribed by the state. In order to further play the role of price adjustment funds in regulating prices and stabilizing the market, the state is drafting measures for the management of price adjustment funds. Before the introduction of the management measures, all localities shall not set up price adjustment funds indiscriminately; The established price adjustment fund should be supervised according to law, and those that violate the law should be cleaned up and cancelled.