South Korea hopes to export rice for...

South Korea hopes to export rice for the first time to eliminate oversupply.

“We will soon make contact with a few foreign countries to determine whether they are interested in importing our rice or in bartering it for natural resources,” said ministry official Lee Hak-joo. He and other officials declined to name the countries or give details.

South Korea is awash with rice after nine years of bumper harvests and is trying to find ways to increase domestic consumption or otherwise reduce the surplus of the nation’s staple grain.

Officials have forecast the total 1989 milled rice crop at 5.9 million tons. They expect the accumulated surplus to reach about 1.6 million tons by year’s end, equal to national consumption for nearly four months.