Naju-si Holds Meeting to Stabilize Rice Prices and Promote Consumption

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] On the 20th, Jeonnam Naju City announced that it held a meeting on the 19th in the Ewha Room of the city hall to prepare measures for "stabilizing rice prices and promoting consumption."

The meeting was attended by Mayor Yoon Byung-tae, Kwon Yong-dae, head of the Naju branch of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Kim Deok-hwan, head of the Agricultural Policy Support Group, as well as the heads of the Nam-pyeong, Mahan, Gongsan, Donggang, and Dasi Agricultural Cooperatives, and Lim Bong-ui, representative of the Integrated RPC.

The attendees diagnosed that domestic rice prices have recorded the largest drop in 45 years and inventory has greatly increased, raising concerns about a crisis in the rice industry.

According to the Integrated RPC, as of the 5th, the price of 80kg of rice was 179,404 won, a decrease of 44,116 won compared to last year.

The heads of the agricultural cooperatives and the Integrated RPC representative appealed, "Last year, we conducted self-purchase to stabilize the farming of rice growers, but this year, due to the rice price collapse, local agricultural cooperatives have suffered huge losses and are facing management difficulties."

They continued, "The government's minimum price bidding market isolation method will induce excessive competition, further increasing the scale of losses," and "We expect great difficulties in purchasing new rice to resolve the management deficit of the agricultural cooperatives," they said in unison.

Mayor Yoon Byung-tae of Naju said, "Based on the opinions proposed through the meeting, we will carry out a local rice purchasing campaign targeting public institutions in the Innovation City and companies in the Innovation Industrial Complex, and continuously promote rice consumption events in the metropolitan area in connection with hometown alumni associations and agricultural cooperatives."

The city plans to support 4.3 billion won annually from the city budget out of the 17.8 billion won project cost to the Naju City Agricultural Cooperative Rice Association Joint Business Corporation, which was selected last year as the facility modernization project operator.

Also, the city plans to complete the modernization of the rice processing plant by next year and will make every effort to select one of the top 12 national brand rice products in the future.

Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong baekok@asiae.co.kr

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