North Korea’s mid-May market prices of rice are the highest they have ever been in mid-May over the last five years. Meanwhile, some North Koreans are complaining they have felt little actual impact from the expansion of rice imports by the government.
According to Daily NK’s regular survey of North Korean market prices, a kilogram of rice was selling for KPW 5,700 in Pyongyang as of May 14.
Compared to the price on Apr. 30, this represents a 3.6% increase in just 15 days. Rice prices in the North Korean capital have been increasing since the middle of last month.
Corn prices have climbed in Pyongyang, too. A kilogram of corn cost KPW 2,900 in Pyongyang’s markets as of May 14, 7.4% more than it did on Apr. 30, when it cost just KPW 2,700.
However, grain prices in Sinuiju, Hyesan and other regions continue to fall.
In Sinuiju, a kilogram of rice cost KPW 5,740 as of May 14. That is 1.03% less than it cost 15 days ago on Apr. 30. In the case of Hyesan, a kilogram of rice was selling for KPW 6,000, just as it was on Apr. 30.
Likewise, a kilogram of corn cost between KPW 2,900 and 3,000 in both cities, similar to the price on Apr. 30.
In particular, North Korea’s market grain prices are the highest they have been for mid-May over the last five years, including the period of border closures due to COVID-19.
A kilogram of rice cost KPW 4,180 in Pyongyang in mid-May 2019, prior to the closure of the border by the North Korean authorities, 36% less than it does now. The current price of rice in Hyesan is also 38% higher than it was in mid-May 2019.
In Pyongyang, the price of a kilogram of rice remained in the KPW 4,000s in mid-May 2021, one year after the closure of the border. However, it climbed past KPW 5,000 in early 2022 and has kept rising since.
With the closure of the border, the price of corn has climbed far greater than the price of rice. The current price of a kilogram of corn in Pyongyang is 125% higher than it was on May 14, 2019, when it cost just KPW 1,290.
As North Korean incomes fell with the closure of the border, demand for corn as a staple food increased while corn production fell due to the government’s policy to increase wheat farming. This led to a sharp increase in the price of corn during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, people who live along the China-North Korea border are reportedly complaining that they get nothing despite the increase in the government’s imports of rice.
“Even if the freight trains are full of rice, not one grain of it falls to the ordinary people,” a reporting partner in North Pyongan Province said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The price of rice will fall only when small-scale trading and smuggling restart.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea and China. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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