A study on the Stable Supply of Fishery Oil in Korea

어업용 유류의 안정적인 공급에 관한 연구

The policy of suppling tax-exempt fishery oil in Korea has a history of almost 40 years, which was initiated by the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives in 1965. In 1999 the volume of fishery oil supplied to the earning fishermen and fishing entrepreneurs amounted to 8,390 thousand DM, 500 billion won in total. This paper analyzes the oil supplying system to fishermen in Korea and shows that the structural obstacles to the stable provision of fishery oil lies in the ineffective bargaining power (fixing price). Provided that the NFFC as a buyer, which is not equipped with the storage facilities for oil bids for a unit-price contract of fishery oil, there exists a possibility of collusion among 5 local oil refineries corporations to influence the oil price, making it difficult to reach a resonable price of oil. Though the international bids and direct imports following the liberalization of oil imports would help lower the unit price, purchasing and importing the oil out of season at a lower price would not be guaranteed without the oil storage facilities. Furthermore, the current supply system of oil is quite vulnerable to the extraneous factors and, say when the oil price soars unpredictably, it is almost impossible to supply low - priced fishery oil to fishermen. The National Federation of Fisheries Association of Japan(Zengyoren), for instance, possesses 10 oil storage facilities, which had been built across the country during the last 20 years (1964-1984). The storage capacity of these facilities reaches 0.6million DM(by kind, 0.56million DM for A heavy oil, 38thousand D/M kerosene, 5thousand D/M for diesel fuel oil). Allowing no intermediary of production associations(fisheries cooperatives) the NFFA's capacity for keeping oil in reserve rises much higher. As these storage facilities can keep the oil amounting to as much as of 70 days demand in reserve, a stable supply of fishery oil on favorable terms is secured. In contrast with Japan case, unequipped with the storage facilities for fishery oil, Korea does not have much bargaining power for bringing down the price of fishery oil. To make matters worse, the oil storing capacity of the member cooperatives is the volume of only 8 days demand. In case the oil price rises, it is almost impossible to supply the oil to the fishermen at a price lower than the price risen.