South Korea’s grain self-sufficiency rate dropped below 20%, creating serious concerns for the country’s food security
Rising food prices in the wake of global supply chain disruption, aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are further threatening food security in South Korea which has recently seen its grain self-sufficiency rate dip below 20 percent, the lowest level.
According to the grain self-sufficiency data by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Korea’s grain self-sufficiency rate registered 19.3 percent in 2020, falling below the 20-percent level for the first time.
This rate was 30.9 percent in 2000, when the international organization started to track internal self-sufficiency trends. However, with the fall of 11.6 percentage over 20 years, the nation’s reliance on grain imports for domestic consumption has shot up to 80 percent.
Korea’s self-sufficiency rate of rice, the staple food, is still as high as 93%, while other grains are very low: soybean 7.5%, corn 0.7%, and wheat 0.5%. The Korean government has concentrated on maintaining the self-sufficiency rate of rice for food security through different protective policies, including customs duties for imported rice and subsidies for Korean rice farmers.
Korea’s self-sufficiency in 2020 was one of the lowest among the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), raising concerns over its food security. Grain self-sufficiency rates of the EU-27, the United States, and Canada stand at 109 percent, 120.1 percent, and 192.0 percent, respectively. Although Japan also has a high dependency on grain imports, it has managed to maintain its rate at the mid-20 percent level after its rate came at 26.6 percent 20 years ago.
South Korea has steadily increased its grain imports as the county has cut domestic crop production caused by low profitability. Consequently, this has resulted in the collapse of the local grain supply chain.
The recent price hikes in crops and commodities further accelerated by Russia’s war in Ukraine are poised to threaten Korea’s food security. Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat.
In particular, meat, egg, and dairy prices have recently soared in the Korean market due to increasing costs for feed grains. The price of eggs, as a major part of Korean diet, has risen with approximately 40% in the past two months. Additionally the disrupted supply of laying hens contributed to the rise in egg prices.
With regard to the soaring egg prices, the Korean government is making it easier to import foreign poultry products to Korea by removing relevant customs duties. The Netherlands is an exporter of day-old-chicks, used as laying hens. However due to (seasonal) Avian Influenza in the Netherlands, the export has been suspended. The LAN team, at the embassy of the Netherlands in Korea, works closely with the EU delegation in Korea and the Korean authorities to introduce “Regionalization” to make it possible to export poultry products into Korea. Korean government is cooperative for this agreement.
Source
Maeil Business News, COMEXT-Eurostat, and KPL News
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