Rice prices fall but corn surges, squeezing North Korea’s poorest consumers

2026-02-13 - 22:26

The market price of rice in North Korea has been falling since December, but the price of corn—a staple for low-income earners—has been moving up. According to Daily NK’s regular survey of North Korean market prices, a kilogram of rice traded for 18,000 North Korean won in Pyongyang on Jan. 4. That was 10% lower than prices in the Dec. 7 survey, about a month before, and 5.8% lower than the Dec. Source