S. Korea to buy 450,000 tons of rice for reserves

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's agriculture ministry said Thursday it plans to purchase 450,000 tons of rice to be harvested this year for its reserves of the staple grain.

Under the plan, the government will purchase 350,000 tons of packaged rice, along with 100,000 tons of pre-dried rice by the end of November, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The amount is a sharp increase from the 350,000 tons purchased a year earlier and the largest tally since 2007.

The planned purchase is two to three weeks earlier than usual and is likely to have an impact of "isolating" 100,000 tons of rice from the market at an early stage, the ministry said.

The government will purchase the rice at the average market price estimated from Oct. 5 to Dec. 25. The government will initially pay 30,000 won (US$22.2) per 40-kilogram bag and hand out the remaining amount by the end of 2022.

The ministry said it has earmarked 1 trillion won for this year's purchase of rice for the country's reserves.

South Korea has been struggling to cope with a glut of rice, a key staple food for Koreans, and its falling prices as consumption has been on a steady decline in recent decades due to changes in diet and eating habits.

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