Seoul: 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.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Koo emphasized the government's commitment to price stabilization as a fundamental aspect of ensuring people's livelihoods. During a ministerial meeting on the economy, he vowed to mobilize all available tools, including tariff-rate quotas, to stabilize the prices of key items and to take strict action against unfair practices disrupting market order.

As part of these efforts, the government plans to expand tariff-rate quotas on major food and feed ingredients. This system allows a specified volume of imports to enter the country under reduced tariff rates for a specific period. The finance ministry stated that 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. Notably, the tariff-rate volume for sugar will be expanded by 20 percent, from 100,000 tons this year to 120,000 tons next year.

Additionally, tariff-rate quotas on nine feed ingredients, including barley, will be extended through the end of next year to alleviate burdens on farmers and help stabilize livestock product prices. The ministry added that the reduced tariff rates on liquefied natural gas (LNG), 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 maintain the zero-percent tariff on crude oil used for naphtha production throughout the entire year. These tariff adjustments are part of 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.