Companies involved in foreign trade in some parts of North Korea have recently been ordered to import agricultural materials and foodstuffs, sources inside North Korea report.
The move comes in response to an expected rise in grain prices following a poor harvest this year due to a record-breaking heatwave and drought. Those foreign trade businesses that have dealt exclusively with non-agricultural goods in the past are having difficulties accommodating the regime’s sudden request.
“The government has issued an order for foreign trade businesses to import grains. It has been met with heavy criticism after an unproductive harvest season,” a source in South Pyongan Province said.
By way of example, the source cited Samhwa, a textiles foreign-currency earning enterprise managed by the South Pyongan Province People’s Committee that was recently ordered to import agricultural equipment and various foodstuffs including corn, beans, and flour.
The company was already facing difficulties related to the banning of textile exports under current international sanctions and the new orders are expected to exacerbate the situation.
“There are several foreign trade businesses in similar or even more dire straits as Samhwa, with many frustrated by the ‘unreasonable order’ issued by the government that they must follow.
North Korea has experienced a particularly unproductive harvest this year. Fields are full of empty heads of grain, with the average sheaf of rice weighing less than 3 kg, making them easy even for young high school students deployed to help with the harvest to pick up with one hand.
The entire population is typically mobilized during October for the harvest, but in some areas of South Pyongan Province the amount of help needed has sharply decreased, and only designated workers have been sent out to the fields, a separate source in that province reported.
“Rumors about the terrible harvest this year are starting to circulate, whipping everyone into a frenzy to purchase food at the market ahead of the upcoming winter,” she said.
*Translated by Brian Boyle
