Reference Date: 28-February-2025

Favourable start of 2024/25 winter season

Sowing of the 2024/25 minor winter cereal crops, mainly wheat and barley, was completed last November and harvesting is expected to start next June. Weather conditions were generally favourable between October 2024 and early February 2025, supporting sowing operations and benefitting crop germination and establishment. As of early February 2025, winter crops were in dormancy phase and satellite images showed sufficient snow coverage in the main producing areas, which is necessary to protect crops from freezing temperatures. Sowing of the 2024/25 spring wheat, barley and potatoes is expected to begin in March. Winter and spring cereal crops constitute only 10 percent of the total annual crop production, but they serve as an important source of food during the May-August lean period, ahead of the start of the main season harvest in September.

Despite localized flood-related crop losses, generally favourable weather conditions benefitted main 2024 season crops

Harvesting of the 2024 main season crops, which account for 90 percent of total annual crop production and consist mostly of rice and maize, plus small quantities of soybeans, potatoes, millet and sorghum, finalized last October. Seasonal rains started on time in early April and rainfall amounts were average to above average and well distributed in May and June, supporting crop establishment and early development. Last July, torrential rains triggered flooding, which caused localized crop losses in western and central parts of the country. These rains, however, benefited crops in areas that were not affected by floods. In early September 2024, just before the start of the harvest, vegetation conditions were mostly above average (VCI map) in key producing provinces of North and South Pyongan, North and South Hwanghae and South Hamgyong, inferring to generally favourable yields and production.

Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

This brief was prepared using the following data/tools:
FAO/GIEWS Country Cereal Balance Sheet (CCBS) https://www.fao.org/giews/data-tools/en/ .

FAO/GIEWS Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) Tool https://fpma.fao.org/ .

FAO/GIEWS Earth Observation for Crop Monitoring https://www.fao.org/giews/earthobservation/ .

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) https://www.ipcinfo.org/ .