Lotte Mart "Establishing a Virtuous Cycle Structure Benefiting Farmers, Local Governments, and Consumers"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Lotte Mart is rolling up its sleeves to help farmers struggling due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and other factors.

On the 16th, Lotte Mart announced that in the second half of this year, it will collaborate with 30 organizations and local governments over 40 times, with a scale of 20 billion KRW, to create a structure where farmers can focus solely on production without worrying about sales channels and profits.

First, up to six months in advance, Lotte Mart plans to analyze past production volumes, climate, and flowering to predict the crop conditions of relevant agricultural products and conduct preliminary collaboration with local governments where farms facing difficulties are located.

Excessive agricultural production causes price crashes, reducing farmers' income and making it difficult to secure sales channels, which can ultimately lead to the worst-case scenario of disposal at the production site. Therefore, if prior consultations are conducted according to crop conditions and other situations, it is expected to become a meaningful win-win model where farmers and distributors can grow together.

For this, experts capable of precisely analyzing crop conditions and prices are primarily needed. Lotte Mart increased its on-site MDs, composed of professionals with over eight years of experience, from 10 last year to 16 this year.

Once a virtuous cycle structure is established among internal and external stakeholders, farmers can secure stable income through sales channels, distributors can see an increase in the value of handled items, local governments can contribute to revitalizing the regional economy and enhancing the value of local products, and consumers will have the opportunity to purchase agricultural products produced through prior collaboration with local governments at about 20% lower than market prices.

Earlier, in the first half of the year, Lotte Mart prepared a total volume of 3,000 tons of products such as apples, green onions, and flatfish in cooperation with more than 20 local governments and organizations, achieving sales of about 10 billion KRW. In April, through collaboration with Jeollanam-do, they sold 100 tons of Imjado green onions in a 1+1 event, and with Jeollabuk-do, they sold 35 tons of Gimje Gwanghwal potatoes.

In May, to promote the sale of abalones plummeting due to consumption stagnation, they held an event to support fishermen with Wando-gun, and in Goheung-gun, a major garlic production area, Lotte Mart and Lotte Super jointly held a garlic event to assist garlic farmers struggling with overproduction.

Kim Chang-yong, Head of Lotte Mart’s Product Headquarters, stated, “Throughout this year, by collaborating with local governments, Lotte Mart plans to continue activities and efforts to provide stable sales channels so that producers of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products nationwide can confidently present excellent products to customers.”

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