Han Hoon, Vice Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, "Agricultural and Livestock Prices Expected to Stabilize Mostly by Mid-Month"

Joint Public-Private 'Expanded Review Meeting on Agricultural and Food Supply Conditions'
Commitment to Continue Expanding Agricultural and Livestock Product Supply, Strengthening Discount Support, and Alleviating Food Industry Burdens

Han Hoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated on the 19th, "Prices of some items such as rice, apples, cabbage, and chicken are high due to supply reductions caused by weather disasters, but supply volumes are expected to increase and stabilize overall after late October."

Vice Minister Han made these remarks while presiding over the "Expanded Review Meeting on Agricultural and Food Supply and Demand" at the Government Complex Sejong on the same day.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to increase the supply of agricultural and livestock products and strengthen discount support to ease the burden on the public’s grocery shopping during the autumn season. Vice Minister Han explained, "We will sufficiently supply 2,900 tons of available stock, including government reserves, to the market to ensure stable supply of cabbage before the peak kimchi-making season (October). We will also resume discount support for agricultural and livestock products, which was suspended after Chuseok, starting today, and will promote special discount events for major price-increasing items such as rice, green onions, ginger, and eggs in cooperation with local governments and the NongHyup."

For apples, 15,000 tons of contract-grown produce will be shipped early (until December), and support will be provided for the market shipment of irregularly shaped apples previously used for processing. Meanwhile, consumption of tangerines, which have a stable supply and demand, will be promoted to disperse demand. For chicken, the import of 5.29 million hatching eggs (until early November) and the expansion of chick introduction by affiliated companies will be continuously monitored. Additionally, in preparation for the full-scale kimchi-making season in November, measures to ease consumer burdens on key kimchi ingredients such as cabbage and radish will be proactively prepared within this month.

Vice Minister Han promised to ease cost burdens and expand support for the food industry and urged the food and distribution sectors to refrain from raising prices. He said, "We will actively consider additional application of tariff quotas on food raw materials with high prices or expected supply instability, such as whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, and processed peanuts. We also ask the food and distribution industries to actively cooperate in minimizing price increase factors through cost reduction and productivity improvement to help ease the burden on the public’s grocery shopping."

Han Hoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, is presiding over the "Expanded Review Meeting on Agricultural and Food Supply and Demand Situation" at the Government Complex Sejong on the 19th.

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