Government to Purchase 450,000 Tons of Rice for Public Stockpile This Year, Expanding by 50,000 Tons from Last Year

'2024 Public Stockpile Implementation Plan' Passed at Cabinet Meeting
Includes 50,000 tons from 2023 Harvest
Public Stockpile Rice to be Sold for Military Rations, Alcohol Production, and Food Aid

The government has decided to purchase 450,000 tons of rice for public stockpiling this year, an increase of 50,000 tons compared to last year.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 19th that the "2024 Public Stockpiling Implementation Plan," which includes this content, has passed the Cabinet meeting.

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The public stockpiling system was introduced in 2005 to replace the rice purchase system, which was subject to reduction subsidies under the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. The public stockpiling system is designed to stockpile rice to prepare for supply and demand instability caused by rice shortages and food crises such as natural disasters. Since its introduction, the stockpile volume has been maintained at around 350,000 tons, but it was expanded to 450,000 tons in 2022 and 400,000 tons in 2023 to enhance food security and revitalize the rice flour industry.

This year’s public stockpiling purchase volume totals 450,000 tons, including 40,000 tons of rice for rice flour and 10,000 tons of eco-friendly rice, consisting of 400,000 tons of 2024 crop and 50,000 tons of 2023 crop. The purchase price will be determined at the end of the year by converting the harvest season (October to December) farm-gate rice price into paddy rice price, and an interim payment of 30,000 KRW per sack (based on 40 kg of paddy rice) will be paid to farmers immediately after purchase. In particular, for eco-friendly rice, the purchase target will be expanded from only special grade and first grade to include second and third grades starting this year, and an additional 5 percentage points in price will be paid by grade compared to regular paddy rice to strengthen the purchase base.

The purchased varieties will exclude high-yield varieties and include two varieties (three in Jeonbuk) pre-designated by each city and county, such as Samgwang, Saechungmu, and Ilpum. If rice outside the designated varieties is found to have been delivered as public stockpiling rice, it will be prohibited from being delivered as public stockpiling rice for five years. The purchase period for unprocessed paddy rice (not dried after harvest) is from October 30 to November 30. For bagged paddy rice (dried and packaged after harvest), the purchase period is from October 10 to December 31.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to notify local governments of the regional allocation volumes (including unprocessed and bagged paddy rice) in the public stockpiling implementation plan, considering cultivation areas. Public stockpiled rice will be sold for military meals, alcohol production, processing, food aid, and will also be used for the operation of the "ASEAN+3 Emergency Rice Reserve" (10,000 tons), an international agreement among 10 ASEAN countries and Korea, China, and Japan to pre-agree on rice stockpiling and provide it in emergencies.

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