Food Makers to Receive Discounts for Rice Purchase

By Jane Han
Staff Reporter

The government is serious about getting people to eat rice again ― so serious that it's going to offer steep discounts to processed food makers, including distillers, to give them more reason to purchase homegrown products over imports.

"Discounts of up to 30 percent will be introduced at the end of September and will run indefinitely," said Lee Joo-young, an official of the farm ministry's rice policy division. He said once manufacturers save production costs by using homegrown rice, the discount benefits will be passed on to consumers.

This is the first time the government will be offering discounts on rice to alcohol makers.

"All food and drink companies will be given the same deductions," said Lee, adding that the ministry is expecting the widened measure to boost the country's rapidly falling rice consumption.

According to government data, South Korea's annual rice consumption per person hovered at more than 100 kilograms in the mid-1990s, but has consistently sunk since, reaching as low as 76 kilograms recently, as more people turned to wheat-based, Western-style alternatives.

Ministry officials say getting distillers involved will effectively get rid of the country's huge stockpile of rice, considering the strong growth of the rice-based alcohol industry.

Sales of "makgeolli," a milky Korean rice wine, has recently posted solid growth, with exports of the traditional spirit jumping 13 percent in the first half of this year on growing demand from Japan and the United States.

More than 95 percent of the traditional distilled liquor is currently made from imported rice, so the government hopes that replacing the key ingredient with homegrown rice will help give a strong boost.

Lee said the farm ministry will introduce further measures to cope with rice oversupply after reviewing output statistics to be released early next month.

If annual output is estimated to exceed 4.6 million tons, up from last year's 4.5 million tons, a follow-up plan will be needed, he added.

jhan@koreatimes.co.kr