Residents of the border areas of North Hamgyong Province are praising North Korea’s food policy as the price of imported rice remains stable even as the KPW-RMB exchange rate rises.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong Province said that many people in Hoeryong “recently worried that the price of imported rice would rise as the KPW-RMB exchange rate rose to nearly KPW 2,000, but the price defied expectations and remained stable.” He said that the price of imported rice used to rise when the KPW-RMB exchange rate rose, “but now the price doesn’t rise even when the exchange rate rises.”
According to the source, the market exchange rate for the yuan in Hoeryong recently rose to an all-time high, but the price of imported rice has remained in the range of KPW 6,000 per kilogram. This is in contrast to past trends, when the price of imported rice rose with the exchange rate.
North Koreans say the policy of state-directed food distribution is a major reason why rising exchange rates have had little impact on the price of imported rice.
The North Korean government has actively controlled and managed food distribution and sales since opening and operating grain stores nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The state manages food distribution by selling grain at below-market prices through the grain shops, while intensively cracking down on private rice sales in marketplaces.
The government-run food stores have often failed to provide food consistently when they could not secure enough grain, but one food store in Hoeryong currently has enough stock to open every day.
“There is never a shortage of food in the state-run grain shops because of the recent large-scale grain imports from Russia and China,” the source said. The shops impose a 10-kilogram limit on daily purchases per person, but many people visit them anyway because they operate daily, he added.
“At first, people complained about the state’s policy of cracking down on private rice traders and telling everyone to buy food from the state-run grain stores,” he said. “But despite the crazy rise in the KPW-RMB exchange rate, the price of imported rice is holding steady, so people agree that the state’s food policy finally seems to be having an effect.”