November 28, 2011

North Korea faces grain shortage for 2011

Despite improved crops after the government only partially provided for grain import cover, North Korea still lacks 414,000 tonnes of grain for 2011, the UN's food agencies said on Friday (Nov 25).

North Korea's cereal import requirement this year is estimated at 739,000 tonnes after crops improved by 8.5% from 2010. The government plans to commercially import only about 325,000 tonnes, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Food Programme said.

Nearly three million people in North Korea will continue to require food assistance in 2012, with fortified blended foods recommended to address protein deficiency and help recovery from a severely lean season and to prevent a further spike in malnutrition, they said in a joint statement.