80,000 Tons of Government Rice to Be Supplied in August... "In Preparation for Chuseok"

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: "We will release 370,000 tons into the market as planned"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced on the 2nd that it will release an additional 80,000 tons of government rice stocks into the market this month in preparation for increased rice demand for holiday rice cakes and traditional sweets during the Chuseok peak season. This is to reinforce the supply capacity of some local distribution companies that do not have sufficient inventory before the main harvest season.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained that it plans to supply a total of 370,000 tons to the market as planned by releasing 290,000 tons of government rice stocks from January to June and an additional 80,000 tons this time.

The public sale targets are milling business operators with sales of 1 billion KRW or more. They are divided into groups of 5,000 tons or more and less than 5,000 tons annually, and bidding limits were set for 2020 and 2019 crops respectively. After bidding on the 12th, delivery is planned to be completed by the 27th.

To maintain market order, government rice stocks won through this public sale cannot be sold in the form of unhusked rice. Instead, they must be sold as polished rice (or brown rice) within two months. Monitoring of mixed distribution of new and old grains will also continue.

This year, the price of rice at production sites has remained steady at around 55,000 KRW per 20kg.

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