Market prices in North Korea fell for a fourth consecutive week in late September 2026, as a fresh corn harvest and easing exchange rates pushed down the cost of grain, fuel and imported food. The pace of the decline has slowed since early September, however, and traders are watching the upcoming Party Foundation Day holiday.
Corn sold for 16,000 North Korean won per kilogram at a market in Hyesan, Ryanggang province, on Sept. 27, according to Daily NK’s regular survey of market prices in North Korea. It marked a 4.2% drop from the previous survey, which was conducted on Sept. 13.
Corn cost 16,300 won per kilogram at a Pyongyang market on the same day. In Sinuiju, North Pyongan province, it sold for 16,100 won, and both prices were down 3% from the previous survey.
Newly harvested corn is now reaching markets across the country as the autumn harvest gets underway, as many North Koreans eat hulled corn as a staple grain in place of more expensive rice. The growing supply of fresh corn appears to be putting steady downward pressure on grain prices.
Rice prices, by contrast, fell less sharply than corn prices over the past two weeks, reversing the pattern of late August and mid-September, when rice prices dropped faster than corn.
Rice sold for 40,700 won per kilogram at a market in Sinuiju on Sept. 27, down 1.2% from two weeks earlier. In Hyesan, a kilogram of rice fetched 41,000 won on the same day, a 1% decline.
The slowdown stands out against the 8% to 9% fall in rice prices from late August through mid-September. It likely reflects the depletion of holiday grain that state agencies and enterprises received ahead of two major holidays, including Chuseok, the Korean harvest festival, and North Korea’s national founding day on Sept. 9.
Sept. 9 is the anniversary of the 1948 founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the government often distributes extra food to institutions and workplaces around such holidays. As those temporary supplies have dwindled, the momentum behind further rice price declines appears to have weakened.
Party Foundation Day could shift market prices
The Workers’ Party of Korea marks the anniversary of its founding on Oct. 10, one of North Korea’s biggest holidays. Expanded holiday grain supplies could deepen the fall in rice prices again in the coming weeks. Alternatively, rising demand could outpace supply and push rice prices back up before the anniversary.
Exchange rates also declined over the same period, though the two main foreign currencies moved at different speeds. The U.S. dollar weakened only slightly against the North Korean won in recent weeks, while the Chinese yuan fell more noticeably in markets near the Chinese border.
The market exchange rate in Pyongyang stood at 69,100 won to the dollar on Sept. 27, down 0.6%. Dollar rates in other surveyed regions showed a similarly modest decline, according to the survey.
In Sinuiju, the yuan traded at 12,040 won on the same day, while it fetched 12,050 won in Hyesan. Both rates were down 3.9% from the previous survey two weeks earlier.
Private money changers in North Korea increasingly view the yuan as overvalued against the dollar. These informal traders operate outside the state banking system across North Korean markets and set much of the exchange rate that ordinary North Koreans use in daily transactions.
Markets now appear to be adjusting the cross rate between the two currencies to restore balance. The dollar-yuan cross rate rose from about 5.56 in mid-September to 5.75 on Sept. 27. That shift means the yuan lost value against the dollar in North Korean markets.
Lower exchange rates have also brought down prices for key imported goods, including fuel. Gasoline averaged 81,233 won per kilogram across Pyongyang, Sinuiju and Hyesan on Sept. 27. Diesel averaged 80,166 won, and the two fuels fell 1.36% and 2.7% respectively from two weeks earlier.
Average prices for imported food staples slipped slightly as well across the three surveyed cities. Sugar sold for 47,400 won per kilogram, while flour sold for 42,933 won. Cooking oil cost 89,033 won, and the three items fell 0.83%, 0.76% and 0.3% respectively.
The combined drop in grain prices and exchange rates has helped stabilize North Korean market prices in recent weeks. Price swings could return as supply and demand shift around Party Foundation Day, however.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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October 1, 2026 at 08:04PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)