Emart to Sell 'Natural Flatfish' Cheaper Than Farmed Fish

Chungnam Water Products Exhibition Held from 21st to 27th

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), wild-caught flatfish has become cheaper than farmed flatfish.

Emart announced on the 20th that it will hold the ‘Chungnam Local Products Exhibition’ event for one week from the 21st to the 27th, offering discounts on various agricultural and marine products including flatfish and watermelons.

Emart is launching a large-scale wild flatfish event to support fishermen in Chungnam. Seasonal wild large flatfish sashimi (around 360g) will be sold at 18,800 KRW, about 20% cheaper than last year. It is analyzed that the price of wild flatfish this year is not keeping up with farmed flatfish prices due to a sharp increase in wild flatfish shipments and a drastic drop in demand caused by the cancellation of local festivals.

About 90% of the annual wild flatfish catch is concentrated in April and May, making flatfish prices the lowest of the year during this period. Although the wild flatfish catch volume this year is similar to the average year, prices have dropped more than 10% compared to last year due to decreased demand. This is because local festivals such as the ‘Seocheon Flatfish Festival,’ which distributed about 30% of the May wild flatfish volume, were completely canceled.

According to the industry, the current auction price of wild flatfish at major West Coast ports such as Seocheon and Daecheon is around 12,000 KRW per kilogram on average. Compared to the wholesale price of farmed flatfish from Jeju and Wando, which reached 20,000 KRW per kilogram in May, this is about 40% cheaper. Generally, the prices of wild and farmed flatfish in April and May vary by year but are formed at a similar price range of 13,000 to 18,000 KRW.

They have also prepared an agricultural product event worth 2 billion KRW from Chungnam production areas. Representative products include ‘Sugar-Selected Watermelon’ harvested in Nonsan and Buyeo, Chungnam, offered at about 20% cheaper than the regular price. Chungnam’s representative agricultural products such as ‘Buyeo Mushrooms,’ which account for about 90% of national mushroom production, ‘Cheongyang Shiitake Mushrooms,’ ‘Manse Boryeong Rice (10kg),’ a specialty of Boryeong City, and ‘Geumsan Organic Chubu Perilla Leaves and Red Leaf Lettuce’ are offered at affordable prices.

The reason Emart is holding such a large-scale Chungnam Local Products Exhibition is that Chungnam farmers and fishermen are facing difficulties due to decreased demand. According to Chungnam Provincial Government, agricultural cooperative sales of agricultural products in the Chungnam region from January to April this year amounted to about 236.8 billion KRW, a 12% decrease compared to 269.9 billion KRW in the same period last year.

Choi Hoon-hak, Emart’s marketing manager, said, “Due to the impact of the coronavirus, Chungnam farmers and fishermen are struggling, so we planned a large-scale Chungnam Local Products Exhibition. We plan to continue organizing various discount events to stimulate domestic consumption.”

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