Browse Data and Analysis

On November 14, 2023, Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) released its final estimate of 2023 rice production at 3.7 million metric tons (MMT), up an additional 0.5 percent from the initial rice production estimates released in early October and down 1.6 percent overall from the prior year.

In 2023, the Korean government implemented three rounds of tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for various imported agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, including new TRQs to stabilize food prices.

As the 5th largest country export market for the United States, Korea provides a promising market for U.S. agricultural products. In 2022, Korea imported about $50 billion agricultural and food products from all over the world and the U.S. supplied a fifth of it, ranking number one. Other key suppliers were China, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Already reeling from high fruit prices, Korean consumers will face another year of expensive, lower-quality apples. Korea’s apple production for marketing year (MY) 2023/24 fell 25 percent year-on-year after orchards suffered a series of adverse weather events in 2023.

Ample opportunities exist for U.S. agricultural exports to South Korea. Highlighted in the chart above, U.S. agricultural product exports were a record $9.5 billion in 2022, up 2 percent from 2021. South Korea is the sixth largest export market for the United States, thanks in part to a successful free trade agreement (KORUS) between the two countries and a robust demand for high-quality U.S. food products.

Korea has not finalized the May 2021 revisions of its Living Modified Organism (LMO) Act, which defines Korea’s regulatory policies for products developed through innovative technologies including genome editing.

Under the 2019 rice Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ), Korea purchased a total of 408,700 metric tons (MT) of rice (milled basis) from three countries: the United States, China, and Vietnam.

Section Updated: Section I, II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX and Appendix I and II.

This report provides minimal updates compared to the previous year’s report.

In MY 2018/19, total production of grain and other crops (grain-equivalent basis for potatoes) dropped 12 percent from the previous marketing year to an estimated 4.9 million metric tons....

The Korean government implemented a volume-based liquor tax for beer on January 1, 2020.