Rice Prices Fall Below 210,000 Won, Government to Purchase 120,000 Tons of Public Stockpiled Rice

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to Prepare Early Measures for Stable Rice Prices at Harvest
"Concerns Over Oversupply Lower Than in Previous Years"

The government recently decided to purchase all public reserve rice in the form of paddy rice (rice that is shipped immediately without drying) starting next month in response to the recent decline in farm-gate rice prices. While concerns about oversupply of 2023 rice are considered low, this measure aims to stabilize rice prices, which have been falling due to a temporary increase in inventory.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 8th that it has prepared and will implement this plan to ensure stable farm-gate rice prices during the harvest season.

The ministry expects that the supply and demand situation for 2023 rice can be managed stably, considering the anticipated surplus production and carryover stock. A ministry official explained, "The Korea Rural Economic Institute forecasts that the average farm-gate price of 2023 rice during the harvest season will be around 210,000 KRW per 80kg. Early purchase of 2023 rice (estimated at about 50,000 tons) took place in September, and the carryover stock is about 10,000 tons, which is less than usual, so concerns about oversupply are lower than in previous years."

However, as of the 5th, the farm-gate rice price dropped by 1.6% to 201,384 KRW, which is believed to be due to a temporary inventory burden caused by an increase in paddy rice purchases by local agricultural cooperatives and other farm-gate distribution companies compared to the previous year. Accordingly, the government plans to purchase all paddy rice (120,000 tons) out of the 400,000 tons of public reserve rice starting in December and will not supply it to the market. The remaining 280,000 tons of dried rice will also not be auctioned under the current rice price situation.

In addition, the ministry plans to quickly implement measures to stabilize rice prices, such as selling 400,000 tons of government grain next year for feed use to reduce inventory burdens and recognizing paddy rice transactions when evaluating the contribution of farm-gate distribution companies’ Rice Processing Complexes (RPCs).

Jeon Han-young, Director of Food Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "It is important to maintain rice prices at an appropriate level during the harvest season, so we have prepared rice price stabilization measures early by reflecting field opinions. We will continue to monitor field trends through ongoing visits and collect feedback to ensure effective measures."

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