Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Begins Inspection of Agricultural and Food Living Prices

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] Jeong Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, conducted an on-site inspection of agricultural and food living prices that have a high public perception.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 30th, Minister Jeong visited the Nonghyup Hanaro Mart Yangjae branch located in Seocho-gu, where he received an explanation about the ‘Special Agricultural and Food Sales Plan’ from Lee Seong-hee, Chairman of the Nonghyup Central Association, and then listened to the opinions of small business owners and consumers.

At the meeting, Minister Jeong stated, "The government will continuously monitor domestic and international markets to proactively respond to supply and demand instability in agricultural and food products, and will also support reducing the burden on producers such as farmers as well as consumers to stabilize agricultural and food prices."

Specifically, to reduce the burden on consumers, the government plans to expand discount coupon support for essential agricultural and livestock products, and to stockpile agricultural products with volatile prices such as cabbage and radish in advance to supply them to the market in case of shortages. For food companies and livestock farmers struggling due to rising international grain prices, the government will newly support related budgets through this supplementary budget to minimize factors causing consumer price increases by alleviating production cost burdens. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs allocated 10.5 billion KRW in the supplementary budget to cover the interest difference of 1.09 billion KRW for financial institutions supporting loans of 50 million KRW per farm at an interest rate of 1% (totaling 1.5 trillion KRW). The budget secured to stabilize flour prices amounts to approximately 54.6 billion KRW.

Minister Jeong said, "It is desirable that Nonghyup, which connects producers and consumers, takes the lead in promoting special sales events and contributes to price stabilization during a time when the entire nation is suffering from rising prices."