Today's Date:  Wednesday, September 26, 2012

1. GRAIN & OILSEED ISSUES

Importation and Distribution of American Rice Suspended for Arsenide Risk [Korean, OSY]

http://news.donga.com/3/all/20120922/49591706/1

Summary:  ‘American Consumer Report’ reported that its lab tests had found as high as 8.7 micro gram of arsenide per single serving amount of American rice.  As a response, Korean Ministry of Agriculture and Food announced on September 21 that it had suspended importation and distribution of American rice in Korea.  However, the Ministry did not order a mandatory recall on American rice already in retail stores and restaurants.  A person in the Ministry commented that American rice distributed in Korea was mainly from California, and the rice that American Consumer Report found arsenide in was rice from southern states.  Arsenide is an unusual heavy metal found in rice, and neither Korea nor the United States has a safety limit of arsenide set for rice.  Ministry of Agriculture and Food would create a safety limit as a result of the incident.

2. MARKETING ISSUES

COSTCO Korea Faces Another Penalty for Opening Its Stores on Sunday [Korean, OSY]

http://www.imaeil.com/sub_news/sub_news_view.php?news_id=53308&yy=2012

Summary: COSTCO Korea faces another penalty (as high as 30 million won) as it opened its 8 stores in Korea on Sunday, September 23 against the local regulation that mandates closing of large-scale retail stores on every two Sundays.  It was the second occasion in a row this month that COSTCO Korea violated the regulation.  Although Korean court recently ruled that the regulation of mandatory closing should be annulled due to a defect in the law making process, COSTCO Korea did not participate in the law suit and therefore was not subject to the court ruling.

Imported Whiskies to Have RFID Tags Next Month [Korean, OSY]

http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2012092570561

Summary: Mandatory RFID tags will be expanded to imported whiskies next month according to the tax office.  So far only five local whiskey brands have been subject to RFID tags.  RFID tags will allow the consumers to check production date and distribution history of the product.

3. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

‘Roasting Coffee’ ‘s Country of Origin is declared ‘a country who roasted’[English, OYS]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=41666

Summary: Central Administrative Appeals Commission under Anti-Corruption and civil right Commission made A decision - ‘Roasting Coffee’ ‘s Country of Origin is declared ‘a country who roasted’ According to a related legislation, It is regulated that an imported product which is associated with more than Two countries for the processing, producing and manufacturing the products, which should be labeled a country of origin where substantially transformed the product.

Nonghyup issues $500 million in dollar bonds[English, OYS]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2012/09/123_119738.html

Nonghyup, the banking unit of the National Agricultural Cooperative Foundation (NACF), has successfully issued U.S. dollar denominated bonds worth $500 million, company officials said.  The five-year bonds carry an interest rate of 2.3 percent, or 165 basis points above the yield on five-year U.S. Treasuries.
Nonghyup, which is now under the newly-launched Nonghyup Financial Group, a holding company controlling NACF’s financial services functions, has originally offered a spread of 180 basis points, but with around 170 institutional investors subscribing to the debt offer the spread was driven down, company officials said.  Worsening global conditions, highlighted by the debt problems in the eurozone, have thrown cold water on the global market for corporate debt issuance as investors continue to duck for cover.