[Rice Price's Higher-Order Equation] Rice Consumption Halved Over 30 Years

Per capita rice consumption in South Korea has plummeted to half of what it was 30 years ago. Although the decline in rice consumption somewhat slowed last year due to increased consumption of various meal kits such as soups and side dishes, the downward trend in consumption was not reversed.

According to Statistics Korea on the 29th, per capita rice consumption last year was 56.4 kg, which is about half of the 110.2 kg recorded 30 years ago in 1993.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained, "With the gradual return to normal life after COVID-19, social activities have increased, leading to an overall decrease in meal skipping. Additionally, the expansion of the meal kit market has increased home-cooked meal consumption, which has somewhat reduced the recent decline in rice consumption."

However, the daily per capita rice consumption was 154.6 g, a decrease of 0.9 g (0.6%) compared to the same period last year. This means a family of four consumes less than three 210 g ready-to-eat rice packs (630 g) sold on the market per day.

Annual per capita rice consumption has steadily declined since peaking at 136.4 g in 1970. It first fell below 100 g in 1998, recording 99.2 g, and has continued to decrease, falling below 60 g in 2019.

If the decline in rice consumption (-0.6%) continues as it did last year, per capita consumption will fall below 50 kg for the first time in 2043. If the annual consumption decreases by the recent three-year average rate of 0.9%, the timing of falling below 50 kg will be shortened to 2036.

On the other hand, the decrease in rice production has not been significant. Last year, rice production was 3,702,239 tons, only 22.1% (1,047,323 tons) less than the 4,749,562 tons produced in 1993. While rice consumption has sharply declined to half over 30 years, rice production has shown a gradual decrease, intensifying supply-demand imbalances and causing rice price instability every year.

As of the 15th, the farmgate price of rice was 48,958 KRW per 20 kg, a 9.7% drop compared to 54,388 KRW recorded on October 5 last year when the harvest season began. Since November 5 last year (50,346 KRW), the price has not recovered to 200,000 KRW for 80 kg.

Jeon Han-young, Director of Food Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "To alleviate the oversupply structure of rice, we will continue to develop various policies to promote rice consumption and strengthen publicity. We will reinforce policies to foster healthy rice-centered eating habits such as the '1,000 Won Breakfast' program and nurture the growing rice processing industry to promote the co-growth of related upstream and downstream industries."

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