COA touts rice flour as way to fight price hikes

A woman looks at rice-based foods at a press conference held by the Council of Agriculture in Taipei City yesterday. PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

The Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday that rice flour might be mixed into regular flour as a way to lower the nation's reliance on imported foods, combat rising commodity prices and create ways to diversify rice consumption.

"Being a domestic product, rice has the advantage of being fresh and relatively unaffected by international commodity prices," COA Deputy Minister Yu Sheng-feng (游勝鋒) said at a media briefing.

"Rice prices have tended to be significantly higher than that of flour, but in the recent year flour prices have soared from NT$17 per kilogram to NT$31. After the recent 8 percent increase rice now costs NT$34.5 per kilogram," Yu said.

In light of increasing rice and flour prices, the council commissioned researchers to develop ways to increase the nation's consumption of rice and its byproducts, he said, adding that the research project had been very successful and was now seeking technical transfers to interested businesses so that more Taiwanese could enjoy foods made from rice.

"Being a domestic product, rice has the advantage of being fresh and relatively unaffected by international commodity prices."

Yu Sheng-feng, Council of Agriculture deputy minister

"So far we have determined a good proportion for mixing rice flour with regular flour, and have developed recipes for bread, noodles, cakes and other baked goods," he said.

Citing a study done by Taipei Medical University, rice is nutritionally balanced, containing 73 to 77 percent carbohydrates, 7 percent protein and 1.5 to 2 percent fat, he said.

"In addition, fibers, minerals and vitamin B are also abundant in rice, which is good for one's metabolism and digestion," he said.

COA Minister Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday came under fire over his comment that the rice price had "increased by just 8 percent" compared with the average price in the past three years.

The statement sparked criticism that Su did not emphasize with the economic pressures bearing down on consumers during a time of global financial difficulty.

The minister made the comments on Thursday at the Legislative Yuan in a question-and-answer session.

Su reopened the discussion yesterday and said that he had not used the words "just 8 percent."

The inflation of rice prices was a result of market mechanisms reflecting the increased costs rice farmers face, Su said.

"The increase in rice prices is within a reasonable range," he said.

However, the government is not ruling out releasing publicly owned rice stocks to the market to offset the impact of decreased supply in a bid to prevent further price hikes, Su said.