{"id":323171,"date":"2026-03-12T22:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=323171"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:37:08","slug":"north-korea-scrambles-for-raw-materials-to-revive-light-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-scrambles-for-raw-materials-to-revive-light-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea scrambles for raw materials to revive light industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Two North Korean trade bureaus are scrambling to source raw materials as part of a state-driven push to revitalize the country&#8217;s light industry sector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">A source in South Pyongan province told Daily NK on Wednesday that the Rakwon Trade Guidance Bureau and the Ponghwa Trade Bureau received urgent cabinet orders on March 1 to secure raw materials. The directive follows commitments made at the Ninth Congress of the Workers&#8217; Party of Korea, which wrapped up in late February, where light industry development was presented as a key avenue for improving living standards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The orders target five areas deemed priorities: basic foodstuffs, household goods, school supplies, cosmetics, and footwear. Authorities are pushing for a measurable increase in domestic production across all five within the first quarter of the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The urgency reflects a sector in serious trouble. Soap and toothpaste producers have run out of the chemical additives and surfactants needed for manufacturing. Cosmetics and food companies lack the high-quality printer paper and packaging film required to modernize their labeling. Shoe factories have ground to a halt due to shortages of synthetic leather and adhesives, while a scarcity of vinyl has disrupted production of student backpacks and other everyday goods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">Garment factories, meanwhile, are short on cloth and thread \u2014 and with most workers away on 8.3 arrangements, under which employees pay their nominal employer a fee in exchange for permission to work elsewhere, many factories are meeting state targets in cash rather than in goods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;Improving product quality and developing new products were emphasized during the Ninth Party Congress, and there was talk about increasing production of everyday necessities,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;The problem is that the factories that make these products are all suffering from a shortage of raw materials.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">To address the crisis, the cabinet has designated March as a raw materials procurement month, instructing both bureaus to import the necessary supplies from China by whatever means available. But officials say the mandate is unfunded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">&#8220;The central government expects us to source materials without giving us any foreign currency to work with, so I don&#8217;t know how that&#8217;s supposed to work,&#8221; one source said. &#8220;In the end, we&#8217;ll have to scrape together some foreign currency or rely on smuggling and other backroom deals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\">The scramble for hard currency is already rippling into North Korean markets. As the two bureaus compete for dollars and yuan, demand has spiked \u2014 feeding a vicious cycle in which exchange rate instability pushes prices higher across the board.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20260311-3\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- Daily NK \u2014 A Note to Readers \u2014 End of Article Pattern -->\n<div style=\"background:#1a1a1a;border-top:3px solid #cc0000;padding:0;margin-top:32px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">\n  <div style=\"padding:20px 24px 24px;\">\n\n    <!-- Header row -->\n    <div style=\"display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;margin-bottom:14px;\">\n      <span style=\"background:#cc0000;color:#fff;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:3px 8px;flex-shrink:0;\">A Note to Readers<\/span>\n      <div style=\"flex:1;height:1px;background:#333;\"><\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <!-- Intro line -->\n    <p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:15px;color:#fff;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 12px;\">Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n\n    <!-- Body -->\n    <p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;color:#bbb;line-height:1.75;margin:0 0 16px;\">\n      Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. 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A source in South Pyongan province told Daily NK on Wednesday that the Rakwon Trade Guidance Bureau and the Ponghwa Trade Bureau received urgent cabinet orders on March 1 to secure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":64898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,645],"tags":[673,714,717,794,886,930,2367],"class_list":["post-323171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-economy","tag-workers-party-of-korea","tag-economy","tag-smuggling","tag-south-pyongan-province","tag-manufacturing","tag-foreign-currency","tag-ninth-party-congress"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>North Korea scrambles for raw materials to revive light industry - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-scrambles-for-raw-materials-to-revive-light-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Korea scrambles for raw materials to revive light industry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two North Korean trade bureaus are scrambling to source raw materials as part of a state-driven push to revitalize the country&#8217;s light industry sector. 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