Will Onion Prices Rise...This Year's Cultivation Area Plummets 32%, Lowest Since 2014

Garlic Also Decreases by 8% Due to Price Drop Impact

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Due to factors such as price declines, the cultivation area of onions this year has sharply decreased by 32.6% compared to the previous year, marking the smallest scale since 2003. Garlic cultivation area also shrank by more than 8% for the same reasons.

According to the "2020 Garlic and Onion Cultivation Area Survey Results" announced by Statistics Korea on the 20th, the onion cultivation area this year was 14,673 hectares, down 32.6% from 21,777 hectares last year. Based on cultivation area, this is the smallest level in 14 years since 2003 (12,352 hectares).

As for garlic cultivation area, it was 25,376 hectares, down 8.4% from 27,689 hectares the previous year. Statistics Korea analyzed that the decrease in cultivation area was due to last year's price declines for onions and garlic, respectively.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), the wholesale average price per 1kg of garlic and onions dropped sharply from 1,234 won in 2017 to 819 won in 2018, and 604 won last year. Garlic prices also fell during the same period from 6,087 won to 5,551 won, and then to 4,255 won.

By province, garlic cultivation areas were in the order of Gyeongnam (6,266 ha), Jeonnam (5,326 ha), Gyeongbuk (5,117 ha), Chungnam (2,810 ha), and Jeju (2,122 ha). For onions, the order was Jeonnam (5,743 ha), Gyeongnam (2,825 ha), Gyeongbuk (2,365 ha), Jeonbuk (1,142 ha), and Jeju (955 ha).

Meanwhile, this survey was conducted over 20 days from the 15th of last month to the 3rd of this month.

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