Government to Supply Additional 80,000 Tons of Grain... Rice Price Increase Slows Down

Supply of 290,000 tons this year... "Reviewing supply while monitoring remaining volume trends"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 7th that it will supply an additional 80,000 tons of government rice to the market within this month to stabilize rice supply and demand. Of the supplied rice, 50,000 tons are from the 2020 harvest and 30,000 tons are from the 2019 harvest.

This measure follows the rice supply stabilization plan in which the Ministry decided to supply government rice to the market within a limit of 370,000 tons this year in response to the decrease in rice production last year. The Ministry had supplied 210,000 tons of government rice from January to April.

With this measure, a total of 290,000 tons of government rice will have been supplied this year. The Ministry plans to review whether to supply the remaining 80,000 tons depending on market trends.

The government rice to be supplied this time will be auctioned to milling business operators who have reported their business, excluding companies with sales under 1 billion KRW.

The Ministry divided companies into two groups based on sales scale and set bidding limits for the 2020 and 2019 harvests. Priority was given to companies with insufficient stock for the 2020 harvest so that they can win bids for raw rice first.

The supplied rice will be auctioned on the 24th of this month and delivered to local distribution companies starting from the 28th.

Recently, the price of rice at production sites is 55,909 KRW per 20kg, with the rate of increase slowing down. The Ministry explained, "Market participants view that a significant portion of last year's decrease in rice production is being resolved through the supply of government rice."

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