South Korea said on Monday it had agreed to import about 90,000 tonnes of rice from India up until 2014 and 20,000 tonnes from Egypt, in a deal to maintain rice import quotas that opponents say are not worth the costs. The deputy agriculture minister said South Korea had also agreed to cut import tariffs on Canadian peas for feed and rappelled oil, and look into importing poultry, oranges and beef from Argentina.
The concessions, made in order to win support from rice-exporting countries to extend a quota system that expired last year, angered opposition lawmakers and farmers, who have criticised Seoul for giving too much up to reach a deal.
"South Korea separately decided to import a total of 20,000 tonnes of rice from Egypt and annually 9,121 tonnes of rice from India during the quota-extended period," Park Hae-sang, deputy minister of agriculture ministry told a news conference.
The deals to import the rice, to be re-exported as food aid to poor countries such as North Korea and not consumed domestically.
Park said Seoul would look into importing Argentinean poultry, oranges and beef if the South American country provided all the required exports documentation.
South Korea last year held a series of bilateral talks with nine rice-exporting countries - the United States, China, Thailand, Australia, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Egypt and Canada - to extend its rice quota system protecting local farmers.
After the talks, Seoul said it had agreed to almost double its rice import quotas gradually to 408,700 tonnes a year by 2014, starting from this year.