This is a rice processing plant in Gimpo, Gyeonggi-do.



One side of the large warehouse is full of huge rice sacks.



[How much is this?

]



One-ton rice sacks were piled up to 14 per row. Last year, they stacked up to 2 tiers, and this year it has risen to 4 tiers.



This means that the stock has doubled.



[ Shin Hyun-bae / Shin Gimpo Agricultural Cooperative RPC Business Director: About 2,000 tons were sold less than last year.

This is the current situation where rice is not very expensive.

]



As sales declined, so did the price.



Based on the price of production areas, the price of rice has plummeted by nearly 20% in the past year.

This is the largest decline in 45 years since the related statistics were compiled.



What used to be 55,800 won per 20 kg bag has now dropped to 45,200 won.

Retail prices fell further.



A sack of 10 kg of household rice is down 36% from a year ago.

The fall in rice prices this year was largely due to the bountiful harvest last year.



As production increased by more than 10%, inventory also increased. As of April this year, 959,000 tons nationwide, a 56.9% increase from a year ago.



The government bought 270,000 tons this year to stabilize the price and decided to purchase an additional 100,000 tons, but it is not enough.



[Shin Hyun-bae / Shin Gimpo Agricultural Cooperative RPC Business Director: At first, I thought about 300,000 tons was excessive, but now consumption is decreasing, and I see about 400,000 tons as excess.

]



This year's crop is also good, and if new rice is shipped early due to early Chuseok, the price of last year's rice is expected to fall further.



[ Park Han-ul / Researcher, Korea Rural Economic Research Institute: As of mid-May, the mother growth situation is considered to be better than normal, so it is unlikely that the production will decrease again this year (it is judged.)



] that you eat less.



Annual per capita rice consumption was 56.9 kg last year, down nearly 40% from 20 years ago.



That's equivalent to eating 156g of rice per person per day, which is less than 1 instant rice.



As rice production increases and consumption decreases, the price decline is expected to continue for the time being.



(Interviewer: Hyejin Jeong, Video coverage: Jinho Park, Editing: Jiin Park, Producer: D Content Planning Department)