Rice prices in North Korea’s North Hamkyung

and Yangkang Provinces have dropped despite general stability in market prices

around the country. This is largely due to an influx of rice from Russia, offsetting regular price increases that come during the spring when grains fall

short in supply.

“Rice

sold for about 5,000 KPW [0.63 USD] per kg in Onsong County at the beginning of

March, but recently that has dipped to about 4,200 KPW [0.53 USD],” a source in North

Hamkyung Province told Daily NK on Wednesday. A source in Yangkang province confirmed

a similar trend, saying, “The price of rice has been continually dropping in

Hyesan Market, recently falling to the 4,000 KPW [0.5 USD] mark.”

Public demand for rice usually surges in

April, and expectations were the cost would jump due to a clampdown on border

movements this month that would block smuggled supplies. However, the supply

from Russia has reversed these projections, multiple sources confirmed.

“Ships

that can hold over 10,000 tons are carrying in wheat or rice from Russia

through the harbors of Chongjin and Rasun,” the North Hamkyung source said. “These

grains go to the military first, but then are flowing into the markets through

back channels.”

He added that the North has been

emphasizing relations with Russia more than with China this year, spurring a surge in trade as well as the dispatch of more workers to Russia to pull in foreign currency. This same source also reported multiple sightings –not only by him but but a host of residents–of shipments of oil and grains coming into the North from Russia.

Fluctuations in rice prices have not yet

been confirmed in provinces other than the two cited above. Markets in Pyongyang

and North Pyongan Province’s Sinuiju have held rice prices at the 5,000

KPW [0.63 USD] level as of mid-April, according to research by Daily NK. This is likely

due to the added time it takes to transport rice to the inner areas of the

country from the borders.

Both sources blamed power shortages for the

delay, exacerbated by state crackdowns preventing traveling peddlers selling goods out of their trucks from entering the markets to do business. While this has contributed to the sluggish supply inland in the very

short-term, prices are expected to level out soon.