South Korea has completed a 2005 rice import quota under a World Trade Organisation agreement after buying 10,033 tonnes of Australian rice, an official at the state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation said on Tuesday.
The firm agreed late last week to buy the brown rice at $498.88 a tonne from trading house D&B Company, he added. Arrival was set for November 30 to the ports of Pusan and Mason.
With this purchase, South Korea met its 2005-rice import quota under a World Trade Organisation deal. In 2004, South Korea agreed with leading rice-exporting countries to import 225,575 tonnes of rice, but the purchases had been delayed because of strong opposition from farmers. "South Korea will start to issue tenders for its 2006 import quota in this fall," the official said. The country has to import 245,922 tonnes of rice by December.