A fire picture shows rice packs being stacked at a shopping mall in Seoul. [Yonhap News Photo ]
SEOUL -- South Korea's rice production this year was forecast to fall 2.4 percent on-year to 3.87 million tons, the agriculture ministry said, citing bad weather conditions and a government campaign to reduce arable land. The reduction is not big enough to ease a perennial surplus.
Thanks of a relatively poor harvest, the surplus of rice will go down to 90,000 tons this year from an annual average of 230,000 tons, the ministry said, adding this year's total rice consumption is expected to stay at 3.78 million tons despite rising rice prices.
Rice is still the main source of daily calories, but annual rice consumption has been on the decline, leading to a surge in the rice inventory. The agriculture ministry has set the obligatory purchase of rice for storage at 350,000 tons this year. State warehouses are packed with rice reserves, far higher than 800,000 tons recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In an effort to cope with oversupply, South Korea has reduced rice cultivation areas. Last year, South Korea started shipping surplus rice to Cambodia and Myanmar
through a regional food aid program. That was South Korea's first rice donation to a third country, though North Korea was once provided with South Korean rice as part of a broad economic aid program.
South Koreans now consume more coffee than their staple food. Alternative and processed food products get more popular while the perception that too much carbohydrate is unhealthy also played a role in the dietary trend. Data from Statics Korea, a state body, showed South Korea's per capita rice consumption fell from 93.6 kg in 2010 to 61.8 kg in 2017.
