A market-oriented reform of China’s 2016 Temporary Purchase and Storage Policy (TPSP) is important for improving the price-forming mechanism of maize. Using monthly, province-level panel data and a dynamic spatial econometric model, this study distinguishes the heterogeneous spatial price transmissions of maize under officially supportive and market-oriented regimes. Our empirical results show that the spatial transmission of maize prices was remarkably distorted under the TPSP. Simultaneously, its market-oriented reform has greatly reduced regional price differences and generated a more flexible and much smoother spatial price transmission. The reform provides important insights for improving agricultural support regimes for other products in China.