Hong Nam-ki: "If Oil Supply Disrupts, Government Will Release 100 Million Barrels of Stockpiled Oil"

Non-ferrous and Rare Metals Market Supply-Demand Monitoring... Flexible Release of Stockpiled Materials Inventory

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, announced on the 10th, "If there is a disruption in domestic crude oil supply and demand due to a decrease in private crude oil inventories, we will release 100 million barrels of government stockpiled oil."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong attended the Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Seoul Office and said, "As prices of raw materials such as crude oil, grains, and non-ferrous metals, which have a high import dependency and are closely related to perceived inflation, have risen recently, signs of instability have been detected in some domestic items such as petroleum products and grains."

First, if a disruption in domestic crude oil supply and demand occurs due to a decrease in private crude oil inventories, the release of government stockpiled oil (approximately 100 million barrels) will be pursued. For non-ferrous and rare metals, considering market supply and demand conditions, the stockpiled inventory of the Public Procurement Service (270,000 tons) and Korea Mineral Resources Corporation (78,000 tons) will be flexibly released if necessary. Additionally, liquidity support will be provided to companies using stockpiled materials facing difficulties by expanding measures such as reducing interest on deferred releases.

Support for import diversification is also planned. To ensure stable procurement of imported grains with low self-sufficiency such as wheat and soybeans, financial support will be expanded from January, including lowering loan interest rates (from 2.0% to 1.5%) for companies entering overseas grain businesses. To diversify the domestic crude oil import network, which is concentrated on Middle Eastern crude oil, the refund of the burden charge for diversifying crude oil import sources, scheduled to expire at the end of this year, will be reviewed for extension.

The government will also strengthen price monitoring. The joint public-private consultative body for each raw material such as crude oil, grains, and non-ferrous metals will be expanded from quarterly to ad hoc meetings to enhance price monitoring and information sharing among institutions.

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