Government: "If Grain Supply Disrupts, Increase Substitute Allocation and Change Origin Measures"

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The government has decided to take measures such as increasing the allocation of substitutes and changing the country of origin if the grain supply and demand is disrupted due to the Ukraine situation.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that it held the 'International Grain Supply and Demand Countermeasures Committee' chaired by Kwon Jaehan, Director of the Food Industry Policy Office, to discuss ways to minimize the impact on the grain sector in case the Ukraine situation worsens.

The meeting was attended by officials and experts from the milling and feed industries, the Export-Import Bank, and the Korea Rural Economic Institute.

The attendees analyzed that considering that Russian and Ukrainian products account for 10% of the annual domestic wheat and corn imports, the short-term impact of this situation would be limited. However, they noted that since international grain prices have been on the rise since August 2020, if the situation worsens, supply and demand instability could occur.

Domestic industries mainly import feed wheat and corn from Russia and Ukraine. Currently, the quantity of feed wheat secured is sufficient until the end of July this year, and corn until mid-June.

The industry has contracted to receive an additional 190,000 tons of Ukrainian corn. Of this, 130,000 tons are being shipped normally this week, and the remaining 60,000 tons are scheduled to be shipped in early next month.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to discuss with related ministries expanding the scale of financial support for purchasing feed and food raw materials and lowering interest rates if international grain prices rise.

In addition, to prepare for possible supply instability, they are also considering increasing the allocation of alternative feed grain raw materials (hulled barley, wheat bran, etc.).

Furthermore, if importing Ukrainian corn becomes difficult, they will promote measures such as changing the import origin in consultation with the feed industry, expanding the safety stock days of feed grains, and expediting processing upon domestic arrival.

Director Kwon said, "We will closely monitor the market situation and take necessary measures in a timely manner to minimize the domestic impact caused by the instability in Ukraine."

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