Emart Launches Initiative to Revitalize Fishing Villages... Offers Half-Price Freshwater Eel

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Emart is launching a consumption promotion campaign to support freshwater eel farmers struggling due to sluggish consumption caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Emart will offer a large live freshwater eel for 17,900 KRW until the 25th. When converted to 100g units, it is about 3,760 KRW, which is about half the price considering Emart's existing live freshwater eel selling price is 7,980 KRW per 100g.

As its name "Daemul" (large size) suggests, it is significantly larger than regular eels. The weight of freshwater eels sold at Emart is around 215-285g (raw)/150-200g (after cleaning), and the Daemul eel size is more than twice that of the regular size.

For this event, Emart directly contracted with six eel farms and secured about 30,000 Daemul eels. The raw weight exceeds 20 tons, which is twice the amount of eels sold during the summer Boknal (dog days) event, when eel sales peak.

The reason Emart is offering Daemul eels at half price is that freshwater eel farmers are facing great difficulties due to sluggish retail sales and falling eel prices caused by COVID-19. The shipment volume of eels has decreased due to poor retail performance in high-end Japanese restaurants and eel specialty stores, and the unsold eels have grown larger, increasing the proportion of Daemul eels.

Usually, Daemul eels have a higher price than regular-sized eels because they are less frequently shipped and require more feed costs. To grow them to Daemul size, they need to be raised for about 6 months to 1 year longer than regular eels, which consumes more feed and production costs.

Until now, Daemul eels were the most popular due to their firm texture despite the high price, but currently, inventory is increasing while shipments are rapidly decreasing, causing difficulties.

According to a freshwater eel farm in Jeonnam, shipments dropped about 45% since COVID-19 became widespread last month. Especially, the proportion of Daemul eels was about 15% of total eels last summer but has increased significantly to over 30% this year. Daemul eels are mainly consumed at eel specialty restaurants, and this is believed to be due to continued consumption stagnation caused by COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Emart is also helping sea eel farmers who are struggling due to sluggish exports to Japan. Until the 25th, a box of 4-5 wild live sea eels will be sold for 18,900 KRW when Shinsegae Point Card points are accumulated. Sea eel consumption has sharply declined due to a significant drop in exports caused by last year's trade conflict with Japan and the disappearance of dining-out culture due to COVID-19. Currently, frozen sea eel inventory exceeds 300 tons.

Moon Bu-sung, Emart's eel buyer, said, “Since the spread of COVID-19, freshwater eel farmers have been facing great difficulties, so we planned this event to create a turning point. Eels are a representative health food in Korea, and we will cooperate with eel farmers to plan various events so that eels can be a healthy food for all seasons, not just a summer health food.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.