2006 Consumers' Choice of the Year: Best Rice Brands

 Since 2003 the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations (KNCCO, Chairman Jeong Gwang-mo), under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, has been evaluating brand rice sold on the market. The purpose of this project is to upgrade the quality of brand rice and enhance consumer confidence in rice, thereby taking the competitiveness of Korean rice to the next level and helping consumers to make informed choices.

This year, the KNCCO received recommendations for 50 rice brands sold on the market from city and provincial governments, the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, the Korea Grain Association, the National Crops Association, and the RPC Association. Experts evaluated these rice brands for quality grade, eating quality and species, while consumers also participated in the eating quality evaluation.

Of the 50 brands evaluated, 12 brands including one best brand, five superior brands and six recommended brands were selected as the rice brands of the year. The results will be announced at the 2006 Comprehensive Review of the Brand Rice Evaluation Project" to be held at the aT center on October 17, followed by an awards ceremony. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Park Hong-soo, will present the testimonials to the award winners and Jeong Gwang-mo, the chairman of the KNCCO, will grant memorial plaques to the superior brands.

“Hannunebanhan Rice” grown in Haenam, Jeollanam-do was voted as the best brand this year. See the list below for the results of the evaluation.

■ Note

1. 2006 Brand Rice Evaluation Criteria

2. Analysis of the Results

1) Hannunebanhan Rice, which received 962.6 points (87.50%) from a possible total of 1,100 points, was voted as the best rice brand of the year. By region, 5 brands grown in Jeollanam-do were listed as a brand rice of the year, followed by Chungcheongbuk-do and Gyeonggi-do with two brands, respectively, and Chungcheongnam-do with one brand.  

2) The average score of the award-winning brands was 932.5 points, equivalent to 84.8 points if converted to the 100-point scale, representing a considerable rise from 2005 when the average was 1071.1 points or 76.5 points on a 100-point scale. The results show that the annual brand rice evaluation has contributed to improving the overall quality of rice.

           ○ Scores and Average ○

Item	Average of Superior Brands
	2003	2004	2005	2006
Brands	51	61	71	50
Average (Converted to the 100-point scale)	763.8 (76.38)	1035.9 (73.99)	1071.1 (76.50)	932.5 (84.77)
Total	1,000	1,400	1,400	1,100

             ○ Quality Grade and Eating Quality ○

Item	Average of all 51 Brands				Average of 12 Superior Brands
	2003	2004	2005	2006	2003	2004	2005	2006
Quality Grade	89.4	78.4	87.1	86.9	94.2	92.7	95.5	93.8
Eating Quality	73.6	69.2	73.6	73.1	79.1	73.8	78.4	76

There was no significant change from 2005 in terms of the number of points awarded for quality grade and eating quality.

            ○ Species Combination Ratios ○

Year	Purity Average (%)
2003	61.6
2004	76.9
2005	53.4
2006	56.1

Purity levels remained little changed from 2005.

            ○ Consumers' Evaluation on Eating Quality ○

Year	Average Consumer Satisfaction Level
2003	65.0
2004	67.9
2005	66.9
2006	69.7

Average consumer satisfaction with regard to eating quality increased by 3 points from the previous year.

3) Eight brands of the twelve superior brands selected this year were also voted as superior brands in 2003, 2004 and 2005, while the other four brands were new. Of the new superior brands, two were from Gyeongsangbuk-do and the other two were grown in the Chungcheongnam-do and Honam areas.

Ranking	Category	Brand	Area	Achievement records
1	Best	Hannunebanhan Rice	Haenam-gun, Cheollanam-do	Voted as a superior rice brand for 4 consecutive years (2003~2006).
2	Superior	Sangju Pungneon Ilpum Rice Gold	Sangju Gyeongsangbuk-do	New
3		Gimpo Gold Rice	Gimpo, Gyeonggi-do	2003, 2004, 2006
4		Amenity Seocheon Rice Migamkwaecheong	Seocheon, Chungcheongnam-do	New
5		Wanggeun's Favorite Rice Gold	Naju, Jeollanam-do	2003, 2005, 2006
6		Donggang Dream Saengmi	Naju, Jeollanam-do	2003, 2004, 2006
7	Recommended	Euiseong Yellow Clay Rice	Euiseong-gun Gyeongsangbuk-do	New
8		Anseong Machum Head Rice	Anseong City, Gyeonggi-do	2003, 2005, 2006
9		Four Seasons' House Rice	Younggwang-gun, Jeollanam-do	2005, 2006
10		Premium Hopyeong Rice	Gangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do	New
11		Saenggeu Jincheon Rice	Jincheon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do	2003, 2005, 2006
12		Cheongwon Life Rice	Cheongwon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do	2003, 2005, 2006

“Hannunebanhan Rice” was voted as the best rice brand this year after having been selected as a superior rice brand every year since 2003. 8 of the 12 brands have been awarded at least twice, and only 4 brands were newly selected.

        Comprehensive Review of the 2006 Brand Rice Evaluation Project

Date : October 17, 2006 (Tuesday), 11 am-12 pm

Place : Conference Room, 3rd Floor, aT Center    
 

• Order •
      MC: Park In-rae, Seceretary General, KNCCO

Opening Ceremony
National Anthem & Ceremony
Opening Remarks	Jeong Gwang-mo, Chairman, KNCCO
Congratulatory Remarks	Park Hong-su, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
Project Summary Briefing	Park In-rye, Secretary General, KNCCO
Evaluation Results	Kim Cheon-ju, Chairperson, KFHC
Awards Ceremony	Park Hong-su, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
Presentation of Memorial Plaques	Jeong Gwang-mo, Chairman, KNCCO

         Attachment: Results of the 2006 Brand Rice Evaluation by Category

Ranking	Category	Brand	Quality Grade	Eating Quality	Purity (Combination Ratio)	Eating Quality (Consumer Satisfaction)	Total
1	Best	Hannunebanhan Rice	287.4	228.8	296.7	149.7	962.6
2	Superior	Sangju Pungnyeon Rice Gold	283.4	244.1	279.8	146.4	953.7
3		Gimpo Gold Rice	289.5	227.9	296.4	137.52	951.32
4		Amenity Seocheon Rice Migamkwaecheong	287.3	242.7	273	147.93	950.93
5		Wanggeun's Favorite Rice Gold	290.2	222.8	283.4	149.49	945.89
6		Donggang Dream Saengmi	284.7	231.6	289.3	134.92	940.52
7	Recommended	Euiseong Yellow Clay Rice	258.3	235.1	297.5	146.31	937.21
8		Anseong Machum Head Rice	278.1	213.8	296.4	139.59	927.89
9		Four Seasons' House Rice	281.4	218.5	288.5	128.74	917.14
10		Premium Hopyeong Rice	287.9	224	268.9	135.15	915.95
11		Saenggeo Jincheon Rice	282.5	231.8	254.7	131.32	900.32
12		Cheongwon Life Rice	268.4	214.6	277.3	125.74	886.04