(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Yoon-gu = The government's forecast is that this year's rice production will exceed 160,000 tons.
The National Data Office announced on the 2nd that the estimated production of rice for 2025 is 3,574,000 tons, a decrease of 11,000 tons (0.3%) from last year.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, this year's estimated rice production is 165,000 tons more than the expected demand for new crops, considering rice consumption for cooking and processing, and the government's public reserve volume.
Although the rice cultivation area this year has decreased by 2.9% compared to last year due to the government's rice supply and demand control policy, the unit production is expected to increase due to favorable weather conditions.
The estimated production per 10 ares (100 square meters) is 527 kg, which is a 2.7% increase from last year's 514 kg and a 1.7% increase from the average.
Although there is a possibility that the final rice production, to be announced on the 13th of next month, may fluctuate due to frequent rain and low sunlight last month, many producers and local distributors believe that the final production yield will be good.
Currently, the price of rice is higher than last year or the average, but the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs expects that after the middle of this month when the rice harvest is in full swing, the price of rice at the production site will stabilize and the consumer rice price will also gradually decrease.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to hold the Grain Supply and Demand Stabilization Committee in the middle of this month, with participation from the government, producers, local distributors, and experts, to establish countermeasures for this year's rice harvest.
Some anticipate that the government may introduce market isolation measures for rice this year as well. Market isolation is a measure where the government purchases excess supply to stabilize supply and demand when rice production increases excessively.
Due to the structural oversupply of rice supply compared to demand, the government has isolated an average of 310,000 tons per year for four years from 2021 to last year.