S. Korea's food self-sufficiency under 50 pct in 2019

SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's self-sufficiency rate of major food products fell more than 10 percentage points over the past 10 years to stay below 50 percent in 2019, data showed Sunday.

The country's food self-sufficiency rate came to 45.8 percent in 2019, falling sharply from 56.2 percent posted in 2009, according to the data released by Rep. Eoh Kiy-ku of the ruling Democratic Party.

Over the cited period, the country's self-sufficiency rate of grains fell 8.6 percentage points to reach 21 percent.

In 2013, South Korea announced a blueprint to increase the country's self-sufficiency rate of foodstuffs to 57 percent in 2017, but the figure actually managed to reach only 48.9 percent.

South Korea later revised its target to have its self-sufficiency rate of food at 55.4 percent by 2022, with that of grains standing at 27.3 percent.

colin@yna.co.kr
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