"This year's rice harvest seems to be better than last year"..."Production will exceed demand" (comprehensive)

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Yoon-gu = A forecast has been made that this year's rice crop will be better than last year's. The Rural Economic Research Center of the Korea Rural Economic Institute predicted on the 28th that if the weather conditions this year are favorable, the unit production of rice will increase compared to last year and the average year. The unit production of 2025 rice is expected to be 524 to 531 kg per 10a (100 m²), increasing by 2.0 to 3.2% compared to last year and by 1.2 to 2.5% compared to the average year. However, weather conditions until the harvest could act as a variable. Although this year's crop is expected to be good, the rice production is expected to be 3.35 million to 3.6 million tons, which may be less than last year (3.59 million tons) and the average year (3.68 million tons). This is because the rice cultivation area this year is 678,000 ha (1 ha = 10,000 m²), a decrease of 20,000 ha (2.9%) from last year. The rice cultivation area has ...