South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Thursday it will put 50 billion won in supplementary budget funds into a discount program for agricultural and livestock products to counter rising prices driven by high oil prices and a weaker won linked to the war in the Middle East.
With the added funding, the program’s total budget will rise to 158 billion won from 108 billion won.
The government said it aims to ease household grocery costs while also boosting consumption. It plans to expand discounted items from five — including carrots, cabbage and onions — to nine in May by adding greenhouse-grown vegetables such as Korean melons, tomatoes and bell peppers.
Discount support will continue for chicken and eggs, where prices have kept climbing. Separate discount events for Korean beef and pork will be held using industry-funded promotion money.
To improve distribution and access, the ministry said it will raise the share of support going to smaller retail channels — including traditional markets, small and midsize supermarkets and local-food direct sales outlets — to 58% from 55%.
The ministry also said it will broaden where government-backed farm discount vouchers can be used, expanding beyond traditional markets to include specialty farm-product retailers. The discount rate, however, will be lowered to 20% from 30% to prevent excessive demand from concentrating in a single channel.
Suh Jun-han, the ministry’s director general for distribution and consumer policy, said, “In an unstable environment due to the war in the Middle East and other factors, we will further strengthen discount support for agricultural and livestock products so that this supplementary budget can help ease consumers’ burden from rising prices.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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