Finance minister vows all-out efforts to curb food-related inflation
Published: 02 Dec. 2025, 10:53
![Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, who serves concurrently as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, speaks during a meeting of economy-related ministers at the government complex in Seoul on Dec. 2. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/02/828015da-0baf-4e23-9f3a-cb98491289da.jpg)
Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, who serves concurrently as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, speaks during a meeting of economy-related ministers at the government complex in Seoul on Dec. 2. [YONHAP]
Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol on Tuesday pledged the government's all-out efforts to rein in food-related inflation amid persistently high prices affecting people's daily lives.
Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, increased 2.4 percent from a year earlier last month, surpassing the Bank of Korea's 2 percent target for three consecutive months, largely due to a rise in the prices of agricultural and petroleum products.
"With utmost vigilance, the government will make every effort to control food prices, as price stabilization is both the beginning and the end of ensuring people's livelihoods," Koo said while presiding over a ministerial meeting on the economy.
Koo vowed to mobilize all available tools, including tariff-rate quotas, to stabilize the prices of key items, while taking strict action against unfair practices that disrupt market order.
As part of such efforts, the government will expand tariff-rate quotas on major food and feed ingredients, the minister said. The system allows a specified volume of imports to enter the country under reduced tariff rates for a specific period of time.
According to the finance ministry, 22 items currently subject to emergency quotas, such as cocoa beans and coffee, will continue to benefit from preferential tariff rates.
Tariff-rate quotas on 10 food-ingredient items, including sugar and coffee, will be extended through the end of next year, while quotas on 12 items, such as processed egg products, will be extended until June next year.
![Office workers at Yeouido, western Seoul, drink iced coffees on June 9 in this file photo unrelated to the story. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/02/8702b3e8-7658-4e8b-9478-32b0521e55ab.jpg)
Office workers at Yeouido, western Seoul, drink iced coffees on June 9 in this file photo unrelated to the story. [YONHAP]
Tariff-rate quotas on nine feed ingredients, including barley, will also be extended through the end of next year to ease burdens on farmers and help stabilize livestock product prices.
The ministry added that the reduced tariff rates on liquefied natural gas, as well as on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and crude oil used to produce LPG, will remain in place through the first half of next year.
To support the struggling petrochemical industry, the government will also maintain the zero-percent tariff on crude oil used for naphtha production throughout the entire year.
The tariff adjustments are the latest in a series of government measures aimed at stabilizing prices, amid growing concerns that rising energy and food costs could disproportionately affect low- and middle-income households.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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