Lotte Mart Introduces 'CA Stored Fruits' with Unchanged Sweetness Even During the Rainy Season

A customer is examining a watermelon with CA written on it at Lotte Mart. (Photo by Lotte Mart)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Lotte Mart is launching sales of CA-stored fruits that guarantee sweetness and freshness even during the rainy season by utilizing advanced storage techniques.

CA storage is an advanced technology that maximizes the storage period and freshness of fruits by adjusting temperature, humidity, oxygen concentration, and other factors according to the fruit variety. By using this technology, fruits that are highly affected by weather can be stored at their peak ripeness, allowing customers to enjoy the freshest fruits regardless of typhoons or rainfall.

Starting from the first week of August, Lotte Mart will prepare and sell about 200 tons of "Freshly Harvested Seedless Watermelon" using the advanced CA storage technology at all stores. By the end of August, they plan to sell 100 tons each of "CA Chuhui Plums" and in September, "CA Geobong Grapes."

The "Freshly Harvested Seedless Watermelon" is harvested from excellent farms in Nonsan and Buyeo before the rainy season begins and stored in the CA storage facility at the Fresh Quality Innovation Center. Lotte Mart expects to supply high-quality watermelons during the late summer heat following the rainy season by utilizing this technology.

Generally, watermelons have a shorter storage period compared to other fruits, and their average sweetness tends to decrease during the rainy season, with prices rising for products that maintain sweetness. However, Lotte Mart was able to set prices at an affordable level while maintaining sweetness by using the CA storage method.

CA-stored fruits have the advantage of allowing customers to enjoy seasonal fruits fresh regardless of climate changes, which has been well received by customers. Since 2018, Lotte Mart has been using the CA storage technology of the Fresh Quality Innovation Center, starting with apples and grapes, and in 2019, they introduced apples, grapes, and watermelons. Sales of CA fruits increased by 13.9% compared to the previous year in 2019, and in July 2020, they recorded sales similar to 2019 by selling only apples and imported grapes.

Meanwhile, Lotte Mart plans to continuously prepare a variety of products using CA storage technology in the future so that customers can enjoy fresh fruits without significant price fluctuations.

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