North Korea has shown signs of a serious food crisis due to recent famine and the suspension of external aid after its relations soured with South Korea and the rest of the world.

To make matters worse, China has implemented restrictions on its grain exports. Thus, the North may not be able to buy food even if it has enough money.

A Chinese businessman in Shenyang said that, at present, North Koreans can buy food on the market. However, Pyongyang’s stringent control of markets in the isolated North has driven prices through the roof. Thus, the average North Korean can depend only on government rations. North Korean state-run companies are said to be struggling to secure grain for the rations.

Early this year, China set an export ceiling of 50-thousand tons of corn to North Korea. However, firms based in Pyongyang took most of the allotment, leaving little for the rest of the country. Food shortages in the provincial areas are expected to be more severe.