President Lee calls for ways to increase rice consumption

SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak called Thursday for efforts to develop new ways to increase the country's rice consumption, noting a steady decline in consumption is already hurting the farm industry.

"We must quickly find ways to promote the consumption of rice," the president
said, adding the nation is saddled with nearly 160,000 tons of surplus rice
annually amid a steady decline in grain consumption.
The president said one way to increase rice consumption is to replace wheat with
rice in the Korean people's staple foods, such as noodles.
"We must increase rice consumption. We eat imported wheat flour, but have plenty
of rice left over," he said while visiting a rice processing factory on Ganghwa
Island, west of Seoul.
"Rice suits our bodies because it is grown here, whereas we bring wheat from far
away," the president added.
The country already produces rice noodles and various other rice products that
are usually made with wheat flour, but is having difficulty promoting them due to
their high price.
The president proposed the government provide its rice reserves at a competitive
price to help promote rice products at least in the take-off stage.
"Instead of stockpiling rice reserves for two, three years, we can provide them
at a lower price. This will help reduce the government's costs to store them
while allowing manufacturers to lower their prices by securing good quality rice
at a cheaper price," Lee said.