Rice Prices Fall for 7 Months, Chungnam Province Urges "Market Isolation of Over 150,000 Tons"

Government Urged to Take Measures for Rice Price Stabilization

As rice prices have been declining for seven consecutive months, Chungnam Province has called for government-level measures to stabilize rice prices.

According to the province on the 30th, the farm-gate price of rice was 189,488 KRW per 80kg as of the 15th, continuing to fall for seven months since the harvest season.

The province attributes the decline in rice prices to increased inventory due to weak consumption. In fact, as of the end of last month, rice stockpiles at local Nonghyup cooperatives increased by 41% compared to last year.

Although the government announced five supply-demand stabilization measures last year and purchased 100,000 tons of rice for aid purposes in February, the situation has not improved, making supply-demand management measures necessary.

Accordingly, Governor Kim Tae-heum urged the government to take proactive measures to stabilize rice prices through a formal appeal.

Governor Kim Tae-heum, Nonghyup Chungnam Regional Headquarters, the National Association of Nonghyup Rice, Chungnam Nonghyup RPC Council, Korea Rice Farmers Chungnam Federation, and Korea Deulnyeok Management Federation Chungnam jointly called for proactive government measures through a joint appeal.

They stated, "With inventory levels maintaining more than 250,000 tons compared to the previous year, without quarantine measures, producers are forced to continue selling at a loss at prices lower than the harvest season purchase price," and requested, "Please quarantine more than 150,000 tons of 2023 rice from the market and ensure that the government’s promised rice price of over 200,000 KRW per 80kg is maintained."

They also demanded, "The government should remove the previous year's purchase volume allocation ratio, which was the basis for allocating public stockpiled rice purchase volumes, and raise the cultivation area reflection ratio to over 60% to prevent rice stock concentration and the resulting flood shipment of Chungnam rice from becoming a major factor in the nationwide rice price decline," adding, "Please make the 2024 public stockpiled rice purchase volume allocation criteria realistic to ensure balance and fairness among provinces."