Minister Song Miryung Meets National Assembly Speaker: "Rice Prices Will Rebound... Committed to Stabilization"

Minister Song "Final Production Volume Expected to Decrease This Year"

Song Miryeong, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, met with Woo Won-sik, Speaker of the National Assembly, at the Speaker's office on the 14th to explain the government's policy for stabilizing rice prices in production areas during this year's harvest season.

Song Mi-ryeong, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (left), is meeting Woo Won-shik, Speaker of the National Assembly, at the Speaker's office on the 14th to explain the government's policy for stabilizing rice prices in production areas during this year's harvest season. Provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

At the meeting, Speaker Woo said, "Rice prices in production areas have fallen this year, raising concerns among farmers," and urged, "The government should actively work to stabilize rice prices in production areas." He also requested, "Please carefully ensure stable food supply amid intensifying climate change."

Minister Song said, "This year's harvest season measures are being implemented more proactively and boldly than ever before," adding, "We proactively announced the basic direction of 'isolating all excess production from the market' last September, before the full-scale harvest season began."

She continued, "Considering that rice prices in production areas were lower than the previous year last month, on the 15th of that month, we isolated 200,000 tons from the market, which is more than the expected excess amount of 128,000 tons," and "announced measures to purchase all the damaged rice that farmers wish to sell, making efforts to rebound rice prices."

Minister Song also forecasted, "Due to high temperatures and pest damage such as rice planthoppers since September, the final production volume to be announced by Statistics Korea on the 15th will decrease further." However, she added, "Considering government measures and crop conditions, rice prices are expected to rebound," and "We will do our best to stabilize rice prices by actively communicating with the field."