[THE INVESTOR]  Rice prices in South Korea dropped this year as local farmers had a bumper harvest for the second consecutive year, industry and government officials said on Sept. 13.

A record amount of 4.32 million tons of rice was cropped across the nation last year, and it is expected to be robust this year as well because the extended summer heat and absence of typhoon and flood helped increase rice production, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said.

The bumper harvest is surely good news, but it has inevitably dragged down the rice price in the market.

The price of rice was set at 137,152 won (US$123.60) per 80 kg as of Sept. 5, down 14.3 percent from the same day a year earlier, said GS&J Institute, a local agricultural institute.

On top of the unprecedented rich harvest, the snowballing rice stockpiles are further putting strains on local farms. South Korea imports rice every year in accordance with the mandatory import quota set by the World Trade Organization.

The government’s rice stock was estimated at 1.75 million tons as of June, adding 420,000 tons from June 2015 and more than double the appropriate stockpile recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)