Ministry of Agriculture Completes Rice Tariff Process... Tariff Rate at 513%

Maintaining 400,000 Tons of Low Tariff Quota Allocation

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced on the 22nd that South Korea's World Trade Organization (WTO) rice tariffification verification process has been completed, and the tariff rate has been set at 513%.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the revision of the schedule of concessions with this content in the official gazette on the same day.

The key point is to apply a tariff rate of 513% to rice-related items and maintain a tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 408,700 tons (tariff rate = 5%).

South Korea joined the WTO in 1995 and exceptionally postponed rice tariffification twice. Instead, a certain quantity was set as TRQ and imported at a 5% tariff rate.

When the grace period ended in 2014, instead of postponing it again, the government decided to implement tariffification and set the tariff rate at 513%, notifying the WTO in September of that year.

Five major rice-exporting countries, including the United States, China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Australia, raised objections to the tariff rate and TRQ operation method, leading to a five-year appropriateness verification process from January 2015 to December 2019.

As a result, South Korea maintained the original tariff rate of 513% submitted to the WTO in September 2014.

The WTO issued a certificate confirming the completion of the verification process for Korea's rice tariffification on January 24 last year and circulated a document announcing the enforcement of Korea's rice tariff rate of 513% on the 12th of this month.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, "The promulgation of the partial revision of Korea's schedule of concessions this time is to complete the domestic rice tariffification process following the WTO's enforcement announcement."