S-OIL buys W530m in local farm produce to support Onsan-area farmers

S-OIL's Ulsan factory held an event Friday to purchase 530 million won ($400,000) worth of farm produce grown in the Onsan area of Ulju-gun, Ulsan — where the factory is located — to support local farmers. Shin Mun-cheol, head of the Onsan Agricultural Cooperative, Lee Sang-woo, head of the Onsan rice farming association, and Kim Il-seop, head of the pear orchard complex farming association, attended the event.

S-OIL has been buying rice grown in the Onsan area since 2001 to help local farmers struggling with high prices and declining rice consumption, donating all purchased rice to neighbors in need and social welfare facilities in the region.

The produce purchased at Friday's event included 3,490 bags of new-harvest rice grown in the Onsan area this year — each weighing 40 kilograms, for a total of 140 tons — and 6,280 boxes of pears, each weighing 7.5 kilograms, totaling 47 tons. S-OIL's cumulative purchases and donations to date stand at 5,570 tons of unhulled rice worth 9.5 billion won and 831 tons of pears worth 2.8 billion won.

Lee Tae-gyun, CEO of Joeun Hwangyeong, a company specializing in residential and construction waste disposal in Onsan, Ulju-gun, also visited Ulju-gun on Friday to present a hometown-love donation of 15 million won ($11,300) to County Governor Lee Sun-geol for local development and resident welfare. Lee has participated in the hometown-love donation program every year since it launched in 2023, bringing his cumulative contributions to 35 million won.

"On behalf of the residents of Ulju-gun, I extend my gratitude to S-OIL for actively taking part in the campaign to buy local farm produce, and to CEO Lee Tae-gyun for consistently participating in the hometown-love donation program since 2023," Ulju-gun County Governor Lee Sun-geol said.