AreaRepublic of Korea

Commodity GroupRice

CommodityAll

Date19/11/2019

Policy CategoryTrade

Policy InstrumentImport quota

DescriptionAnnounced that it had concluded the verification process of its plan to move towards rice tariffication, after obtaining agreement to impose a 513 percent tariff on volumes imported outside of the 408 700 tonne minimum access volume from the five WTO members who had reservations on the plan. As part of the agreement, the 408 700 tonne import quota would be divided into the following country specific quotas: 157 195 metric tonnes for China, 132 304 metric tonnes for the USA, 55 112 metric tonnes for Viet Nam, 28 494 tonnes for Thailand and 15 595 for Australia. The remaining 20 000 tonnes would be reserved as a global quota open to rice originating in any WTO member. The quotas would be effective from 1 January 2020. A subsequent announcement indicated that the WTO had certified the schedule of concessions on 24 January 2020, thus bringing the country\'s rice tariffication move to a full conclusion.