South Korea, the world’s third--biggest corn buyer, plans to secure more farmland overseas to grow crops such as corn and wheat and secure a stable supply amid surging food prices.
The country wants to secure a total of 380,000 hectares of overseas farmland by 2018, the agriculture ministry said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, without giving a comparative figure. That area can produce about 1.38 million tonnes of corn, wheat and soybeans, or about 10 percent of the nation’s annual imports of the three major crops, it said.
South Korea, which relies on imports for almost all its corn and wheat while it is fully self--sufficient in rice, is seeking to boost supplies as surging global food costs fuel inflation. Corn futures prices have jumped 63 percent in Chicago in the past year, while soybeans climbed 42 percent and wheat gained 22 percent.
HELPING HAND
The government will help the nation’s companies lease arable land or buy stakes in overseas firms, the statement said. It will prioritize countries such as the Philippines, Cambodia, Ukraine, Indonesia and Russia for potential investments, it said.
South Korea also plans to expand its overseas grain trading business into countries including Brazil, Russia and Ukraine after a US venture was set up earlier this year, the statement said. State-run Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp in April started a grain-trading venture in Chicago to help secure supplies, the statement said.
GDP GROWTH
The nation’s GDP will expand 5 percent in the second half of this year compared with a year earlier after 3.9 percent growth in the first half, the finance ministry projected on June 30.
Growth combined with rising energy costs have spurred inflation above the central bank’s 4 percent target every month this year, prompting three rate increases this year.
The government raised its inflation estimate for this year to 4 percent from 3 percent and cut the growth forecast to 4.5 percent from 5 percent, according to a June 30 statement.
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