{"id":51262,"date":"2022-04-08T13:16:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T04:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=51262"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:14:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:14:50","slug":"ordinary-north-koreans-face-more-difficulties-amid-rising-commodity-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ordinary-north-koreans-face-more-difficulties-amid-rising-commodity-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Ordinary North Koreans face more difficulties amid rising commodity prices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prices in North Korea\u2019s major markets have been climbing as of late. The country\u2019s citizens are bearing an increasingly heavy burden as exchange rates skyrocket and prices continuously rise for items that significantly impact livelihoods such as grain, gasoline, and diesel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Daily NK\u2019s regular survey of prices in North Korea, the market item whose price has risen most conspicuously is oil.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of Monday, a kilogram of gasoline cost KPW 13,200 in Pyongyang, KPW 12,700 in Sinuiju, and KPW 12,500 in Hyesan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This represents a 68-98% climb compared to Jan. 11, when a kilo of gas cost just KPW 6,680 in Pyongyang, KPW 6,970 in Sinuiju, and KPW 7,440 in Hyesan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diesel prices have climbed even faster than gasoline. As of Monday, a kilogram of gasoline cost KPW 9,600 in Pyongyang, KPW 9,450 in Sinuiju, and KPW 9,500 in Hyesan. That is 92-116% higher than it cost on Jan. 11. In Pyongyang, the price of diesel recently climbed to more than double what it was at the start of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rising international oil prices in the wake of the Ukraine crisis may have played a part, but the price of oil in North Korea is climbing much faster than international prices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to GlobalPetrolPrices.com, which tracks oil prices across the world, a liter of gasoline in China cost RMB 9.381 (about KPW 7,646), while diesel cost RMB 8.433 (about KPW 6,873) as of Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if you take into account transportation costs and trade and distribution margins, the market price of oil in North Korea has spiked considerably.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sharp rise in North Korean oil prices has much to do with measures taken by the authorities to control oil sales.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily NK reported last month that small teams of prosecutors have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korean-crackdowns-private-oil-sales-one-factory-skyrocketing-oil-prices\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">launched a crackdown on private oil sales<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with authorities confiscating the oil stocks of merchants caught selling oil in markets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This may be linked to the government\u2019s efforts to give state agencies first dibs on oil as import prices rise due to climbing international oil prices and the falling value of local currency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The market prices of grains such as rice and corn also continue to rise. As of Monday, a kilogram of rice cost KPW 5,100 in Pyongyang, KPW 5,300 in Sinuiju, and KPW 5,400 in Hyesan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The price of rice climbed above KPW 5,000 for the first time this year, having remained below KPW 5,000 since late last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The price of rice has risen 13-15% compared to Jan. 11, when rice cost just KPW 4,500 in Pyongyang, KPW 4,600 in Sinuiju, and KPW 4,700 in Hyesan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The price of corn has climbed even faster. As of Monday, corn cost KPW 2,730 in Pyongyang and KPW 2,700 in Sinuiju. Essentially, it has climbed about 25% since the start of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Public discontent is rising as market prices continue to climb. North Korean authorities provided special gifts of pork, eggs, seafood, fruit and vegetables to cadres and civilians to mark late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il\u2019s birthday on Feb. 16, though these gifts largely focused on the Pyongyang area.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, people are complaining that the authorities should have provided foodstuffs such as rice or corn instead. In particular, criticism is growing louder in regions that did not receive the gifts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A resident of the North Korea-China border region told Daily NK although freight trains have been returning to North Korea full of rice and flour since the start of the year, none of it is reaching the people. He also noted that the authorities provided school supplies and school uniforms to children to mark the start of the school year on Apr. 1, but this will not resolve immediate food shortages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20220407-5\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prices in North Korea\u2019s major markets have been climbing as of late. The country\u2019s citizens are bearing an increasingly heavy burden as exchange rates skyrocket and prices continuously rise for items that significantly impact livelihoods such as grain, gasoline, and diesel. According to Daily NK\u2019s regular survey of prices in North Korea, the market item [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":42954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,645],"tags":[100],"class_list":["post-51262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-economy","tag-markets"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ordinary North Koreans face more difficulties amid rising commodity prices - 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\/ordinary-north-koreans-face-more-difficulties-amid-rising-commodity-prices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ordinary North Koreans face more difficulties amid rising commodity prices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prices in North Korea\u2019s major markets have been climbing as of late. The country\u2019s citizens are bearing an increasingly heavy burden as exchange rates skyrocket and prices continuously rise for items that significantly impact livelihoods such as grain, gasoline, and diesel. 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