Rice cultivation area hits record low in South Korea

Rice

South Korea

Market & Price Trends

Published Mar 29, 2024

Tridge summary

In 2023, South Korea is facing a significant decrease in rice cultivation area and production, with the area dropping to an all-time low of 694,000 hectares, leading to a 2.9% decrease in rice production. This decline is attributed to government measures promoting the cultivation of strategic crops over rice. Despite efforts to stabilize the market, rice prices are currently stable but expected to rise due to a predicted market supply shortage. The government plans to adjust rice purchases for public storage and overseas aid, including allocating an additional 50,000 tons of rice for overseas aid, aiming to manage the supply-demand balance effectively. However, a shortage of about 50,000 tons compared to demand is anticipated, potentially leading to price increases in the coming months.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.

Original content

It is predicted that this year's rice cultivation area will fall below 700,000 ha, hitting an all-time low. Accordingly, rice production is predicted to decrease by 2.9% compared to last year. The Korea Rural Economic Institute recently announced through its ‘April Rice Observation’ that the area intended for rice cultivation this year was calculated to be 694,000 ha, a decrease of 14,041 ha (2%) from last year (708,041 ha). This is the result of a survey of rice sample farms from 8 to 14 days. The Korea Agricultural Research Institute previously surveyed sample farms in December of last year and presented the same figures in ‘Agricultural Outlook 2024’ in January of this year. The Korea Agricultural Research Institute predicts that the government's appropriate rice production measures this year, following last year, will have a significant impact on the reduction of rice cultivation area. In particular, it is predicted that the number of farmers participating in the strategic ...

Source: Nongmin