School Opening Delay Causes Drop in Meal Deliveries... NongHyup Steps Up to Support Market Access

Lee Seong-hee, President of NongHyup Central Association, and Kim Hyun-soo, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Visit NongHyup Distribution Yangjae Branch for On-site Inspection

Lee Seong-hee, President of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (third from the right), and Kim Hyun-soo, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, are examining agricultural products at an event promoting eco-friendly agricultural products held on the 19th at the Nonghyup Distribution Yangjae Branch in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] NongHyup has stepped up to support securing sales channels for eco-friendly agricultural product producers supplying school meals, who are facing difficulties due to the postponement of school openings caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

NongHyup announced on the 20th that it will hold a special sale of eco-friendly agricultural products at over 700 Hanaro Mart locations nationwide for two weeks until the 1st of next month. This special sale focuses on 17 selected items, mainly leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables, which are difficult to store long-term and adjust shipping times. In particular, for mixed ssam (wrap vegetables) and medium green onion items, which are highly preferred for school meals, a promotion will be held until the 25th offering a 600 KRW discount per item when paying with affiliated cards (NH, Kookmin, Citi, Samsung, BC).

During the same period, seven distribution centers in the metropolitan area (Yangjae, Changdong, Goyang, Samsong, Seongnam, Suwon, Yangju) will set up special sale booths separately to actively promote the public value of eco-friendly agricultural products to consumers.

On the first day of the special sale event, Lee Seonghee, Chairman of NongHyup Central Association, and Kim Hyunsoo, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, visited the NongHyup Distribution Yangjae branch to encourage on-site staff and urged them to put effort into selling eco-friendly agricultural products including those for school meals.

Chairman Lee said, "We will do our best to ease the concerns of farmers who are struggling to secure sales channels due to the spread of COVID-19," and added, "We ask for the public’s great interest in the consumption of good eco-friendly agricultural products that promote coexistence between producers and consumers through this event."

Meanwhile, besides the promotional event, NongHyup is implementing various support measures such as participating in the eco-friendly agricultural product bundle group purchase campaign led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to help producers of eco-friendly agricultural products.

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