Browse Data and Analysis

Market share of U.S. corn in South Korea is expected to remain strong in MY 2024/25 after rebounding to 20 percent in MY 2023/24. Domestic rice production continues its slow decline as the government incentivizes farmers to switch to planting alternate crops.

Marketing Year (MY) 2024/25 rice production and consumption forecasts remain unchanged since the April 2024 Grain and Feed Annual Report. Post revised MY 2023/24 rice imports down based on the import tender fulfillment pace by the Korean government. Progress allocating the 2024 rice tariff rate quota (TRQ) has been favorable for the United States, but local distribution of imported U.S. table rice has not kept pace, as auctions remain suspended since November 2023.

The Korean government’s policy incentivizing farmers to replace rice acreage with other crops is the driving force behind record low rice planting and production projected in marketing year (MY) 2024/25.

In MY2024/2025, Taiwan’s wheat imports are forecast at 1.4 MMT. The United States is expected to recover market share from Australia due to better competitiveness and availability. MY2023/2024 and MY2024/2025 corn imports are forecast to recover to 4.55 MMT due to improved feed demand outlook, with restocking in both the hog and poultry sectors.

On December 22, 2023, Taiwan completed the last tender for 6,000 MT of U.S. long grain brown rice. This purchase concludes the tenders for the 2023 country specific quota (CSQ) for U.S. rice.

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.

Rice production in Korea is forecast to be gradually down in marketing year (MY) 2023/24 on reduced acreage in response to government incentives encouraging farmers to switch to other grains, such as wheat and soybean.

The FAS/Seoul June 2023 Grain and Feed update covers changes to the Korean rice situation since the March 2023 Grain and Feed Annual report. Marketing year 2022/23 production and consumption will be unchanged, with a small decline in imports.

The 2023 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2023 calendar year.

The 2022 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2022 calendar year.

FAS/Seoul forecasts marketing year (MY) 2023/24 corn imports to remain flat, with U.S. market share gradually recovering towards the end of the year. Wheat imports are expected to decline towards the long term average as feed wheat loses a temporary price advantage over corn.

Taiwan’s domestic wheat production, 4,000 MT in MY2022/2023, is dwarfed by imports at 1.4 MMT for the current MY. Australia is expected to further recover wheat market share from the United States due to competitive pricing and production recovery.