The government and the ruling party decided Monday to buy a total of 15.25 million sok, or 78.08 million bushels of rice, from local farmers, up 4 million sok from last year, in an attempt to stabilize plunging rice prices.
The government had originally planned to increase its rice purchase this year by only 2 million sok from last year, but decided to double the increase after sensing worsening sentiment over tumbling rice prices in the farming industry.
After a meeting with government officials, Rep. Kang Un-tae of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) announced that an additional 2 million sok will be purchased at market prices through the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF).
Kang said...the government will compensate the NACF for losses incurred from the additional purchase.
This year's rice purchase is therefore expected to cost the government about 99.4 billion won (US$76 million) in purchasing, storage, and other expenses, up from earlier estimates of 30.1 billion won.