Jeonbuk Local Food Direct Store, 25% Increase in Q1 Compared to Last Year

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the first-quarter sales of local food direct stores in Jeonbuk Province have rather increased.

Jeonbuk Province announced on the 8th that the first-quarter sales of local food direct stores amounted to 30.4 billion KRW, a 25% increase compared to the previous year.

This is about 6.1 billion KRW more than the previous year, and it is interpreted that as school openings were postponed due to COVID-19, households increased their purchase of ingredients and preferred local food stores, which guarantee more safety than general marts.

Jeonbuk Province analyzed that local food direct stores in the province are playing a leading role in promoting the consumption of eco-friendly agricultural products for school meals, serving as the last stronghold protecting rural areas, and are recognized as a safe source of ingredients for households.

In fact, from the 4th to the 5th, local food direct stores located in Jeonju, Gunsan, and Gimje sold 3,500 bags of eco-friendly vegetables for school meals (including young radish leaves, lettuce, cucumber, onion, potato, chives, etc.) worth 7 million KRW, and 38 local food direct stores are temporarily acting as sales agents for surplus eco-friendly vegetables for school meals regardless of membership status.

As of the first quarter of 2020, about 11,000 farmers in the province supply local food stores, and about 300 employees work at local food direct stores, indicating that local food in the province has a significant impact on the rural economy and employment.

Kang Hae-won, Director of the Agricultural Food Industry Division of Jeonbuk Province, said, “We are only grateful to the residents who trust and visit local food direct stores when farmers are facing difficulties due to COVID-19,” and added, “We will provide safer and fresher local food to repay the residents.”

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