By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

President Lee Myung-bak instructed policymakers Thursday to step up measures to promote rice consumption, saying the government should supply the grain at cheaper prices to food firms to help lower prices of rice products.

Lee said the government should reduce its stockpile by encouraging firms to develop more products made from rice.

The President made the remarks during a policy coordination meeting with senior economic officials at the National IT Industry Promotion Agency in Songpa-gu, southeastern Seoul.

"It's time to discuss how to deal with the growing rice stockpile. Due to changing dietary habits, demand for rice has been falling, destabilizing the farming industry," the President said.

The government purchases rice directly from farmers every year and keeps it for years in an effort to support their income. Farmers have diversified their income sources, but still make more than 50 percent of their earnings from rice production.

The government also provides subsidies to rice producers to protect them from cheaper imports.

"The government usually keeps purchased rice for three years before supplying it to the market. It was necessary in the past to keep it for such a long time in case of poor harvests," Lee said.

"These days, however, rice harvests are rarely affected by rainfall because of technological developments. The government should provide rice to firms quickly and initiate campaigns to boost rice demand so that it can reduce the stockpile."

According to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, the annual rice surplus amounts to 300,000 tons. The government currently has a stockpile of some 800,000 tons and spends some 600 billion won annually in keeping it.

During a decade of liberal governments, South Korea sent a total of 3.2 million tons of rice as part of food aid to North Korea, but the Lee administration suspended the shipments due to the North's nuclear threats.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr