"Temporary Rice Shortage"... Production Down 3% but Demand Jumps Double Digits Due to Increase in Home Meal Consumers

Heavy Rain and Typhoons Expected to Reduce Production by About 3%
Home Meal Demand Rises Due to COVID-19 and Holidays
Some Rice Sold Out on Online Malls Like Market Kurly

Around 3 PM on the 12th, many rice products were sold out on Market Kurly.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Sunghye] Due to this year's heavy rains and consecutive typhoons, rice crop yields have been poorer than average, causing some rice products to become scarce on online malls. This is because demand for home-cooked meals increased due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), coupled with overlapping holidays, which led to increased rice consumption.

According to major food sales online malls on the 13th, some rice products have recently been sold out early. At Market Kurly, a fresh food specialty mall, as of 3 p.m. the previous day, many products such as two types of rice with enhanced taste, Ttangkkeut Haenam Cheotsarang white rice 10kg, washed complete rice Sindongjin 4kg, King’s brand Icheon rice (Chucheong) 10kg, and pesticide-free moist rice (Gawaji No.1) two types were sold out early.

Around 3 PM on the 12th, many rice products were sold out at Emart Mall.

At the same time, Hello Nature’s silk rice 10kg grown by sea breeze and organic brown glutinous rice 1kg, among many 2020 new rice products, were sold out. Emart Mall also saw many rice products produced this year, such as Hannune Banhan rice 10kg, premium Gimpo Koshihikari 4kg, and Seokmun Nonghyup Dangjin Haemaeul rice 20kg, sold out.

A Market Kurly representative explained, "Comparing sales from October 5 to 11, excluding the holiday period when delivery was not conducted (October 1-4), grain sales increased by 61% compared to the same period last year. Especially, while 4kg packaged products were popular last year, this year, as the proportion of home-cooked meals increased, 10kg products recorded the highest sales." For the popular Joseonhyangmi series, the new rice for this year has not yet been released, so customers are waiting for restocking.

An SSG.com representative also said, "From the 1st to the 11th, total grain sales increased by 15% compared to last year. In particular, 10kg rice sales increased by 29% compared to last year and 30% compared to the previous month, and sales of small packages under 10kg also increased by 38% compared to last year."

Earlier, according to Statistics Korea’s announcement on the 15th of last month, the expected production volume of 2020 rice was 3.631 million tons. Due to heavy rains in June and July and consecutive typhoons until early autumn, heading was delayed and the number of grains decreased, resulting in poorer crop conditions than average. The expected production volume decreased by about 3%, or 113,000 tons, compared to last year.

Rice (20kg commodity) price fluctuation status. Source: Korea Price Association

Accordingly, rice prices have temporarily risen. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation’s agricultural product distribution information, the wholesale price of rice (based on commercial grade) recorded 52,740 KRW for 20kg the previous day, a 13.5% increase from 46,470 KRW a year ago. Compared to the average price of 40,757 KRW, it rose by 29.4%. On the 5th, the farm gate price of rice was 219,288 KRW per 80kg, up 14.3% from 191,912 KRW in the same period last year. As a result, some restaurants have started raising the price of set meals.

However, the rice supply shortage and price volatility are likely to be resolved around late this month. A Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs official stated, "Once the harvest season rice is shipped in earnest from late this month, rice prices are expected to stabilize."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.