South Korea will lower tariffs on a total of 103 products next year in a bid to help stabilize prices of goods frequently consumed by ordinary citizens, farmers and small enterprises, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

The items, whose tariffs will be temporarily lowered or removed throughout next year under the tariff quota system, will include raw sugar, pork, garlic and butter, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

There will be less products than the 112 imports that were eligible for lower tariffs this year. Of the total, 88 items are already on the list, while 15 are newly included.

The newly-added goods include sweet potato starch, oats and artificial graphite. Chicken, coffee beans, flour, gasoline, detergent and others were excluded from the list, the ministry said.

A tariff quota refers to the maximum amount of imports that can enjoy preferential lowered tariff rates for a certain period. That allows policymakers to adjust duties on specified merchandise in order to help control supply and ease price hikes.

The Finance Ministry said it expects the lowered tariffs will improve the livelihoods of ordinary citizens and ease financial burdens on farmers and small and medium-sized companies.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that it will temporarily impose higher tariffs on 15 imported goods next year as part of efforts to protect local industries from cheaper products from other countries. They are mostly agricultural and fisheries goods, including frozen squid and frozen pollack. 

(Yonhap News)