Food Self-Sufficiency Rate in 2003 Was 27 Percent

Due to bad crops, last year saw the lowest recorded rate for food self-sufficiency in the past seven years.

According to “Statistics for Demand and Supply of Cereals in 2003” which was temporarily summed up on March 1 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the demand for cereals in 2003 was 20,984,000 tons, including 400,000 tons of rice shipped to North Korea, an increase of 1.66 percent compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, the amount harvested was 5,544,000 tons, a decrease of 10.03 percent from 2002.

Accordingly, the food self-sufficiency rate, which is the percentage of domestically produced grain to total demand for grain, dropped to 26.9 percent, a decrease of four percent from 2002 (30.4 percent).

It is the lowest rate since 26.4 percent in 1996.

The food self-sufficiency rate was 30.4 percent in 1997, 31.4 percent in 1998, 29.4 percent in 1999, 29.7 percent in 2000, and 31.1 percent in 2001.

When classified by category, the self-sufficiency rate was the highest for potatoes and sweet potatoes with 98.7 percent. Rice, barley, beans, corn, and wheat followed them with 97.5 percent, 45.5 percent, 6.9 percent, 0.8 percent, 0.1 percent, respectively.

Jin-Hup Song jinhup@donga.com