20% Discount on Domestic Seafood... Government Launches Campaign to Boost Consumption

Government Issues Discount Coupons... Additional 20 Billion Won Support in Second Half
Minimizing COVID-19 Fishermen Damage... Expecting Revitalization of Traditional Markets

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The government is promoting the 'Korea Seafood Festival,' an event where domestic seafood can be purchased at a 20% discount at nationwide large supermarkets, traditional markets, and online shopping malls, contributing to stimulating consumption and maintaining fishermen's income. This initiative supports the fisheries industry, which has been struggling due to COVID-19 and the decision to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, while also easing consumers' shopping burdens amid recent price increases.

According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on the 6th, a total of 17.7 billion KRW worth of coupons were used in the first half of this year through the Korea Seafood Festival event (14.3 billion KRW online and offline, 3.4 billion KRW in traditional markets), generating 94.6 billion KRW in sales for the fisheries industry.

The Korea Seafood Festival is a government project that supports 20% of seafood prices. The government issues seafood discount coupons, which consumers can use up to 10,000 KRW per person when purchasing seafood. In addition to the government's 20% discount support, sellers themselves offer discounts of up to 50-70% to reduce consumer burden. A total of 31 companies participate, including 16 offline companies such as large supermarkets, cooperatives, and startups, and 15 online companies.

The budget for this event this year is 59 billion KRW, including the original budget of 39 billion KRW and an additional supplementary budget of 20 billion KRW. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries secured 24.3 billion KRW through the second supplementary budget on the 25th of last month, of which 20 billion KRW is additionally allocated to this event. Accordingly, seafood discount coupons will be additionally issued worth 20 billion KRW, and the number of seafood discount events in the second half of the year will increase from the originally planned 4 times to 6 times.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will hold two additional special exhibitions in the second half of the year, such as the 'Bountiful Catch Special Exhibition' and the 'Autumn Special Exhibition,' promoting a total of six events. The Item Selection Committee will select the discounted items. On average, 15 items will be selected, including popular items such as mackerel, hairtail, squid, pollock, croaker, and dried anchovies, expanding the number of items compared to the previous average of 9 items per event.

The discount method applies the principle of a 20% discount, but for the Chuseok Special Exhibition held next month, the discount limit will be temporarily raised to a maximum of 20,000 KRW per person to manage holiday prices and ease consumers' shopping burdens. The same 20% discount will also be applied to meal kit products using domestic raw materials.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries believes that the Korea Seafood Festival has shown effects in stimulating consumption and contributed to increasing fishermen's income and revitalizing traditional markets. Fishermen's income increased by 9.9%, from 48.42 million KRW in 2019 to 53.19 million KRW in 2020, when COVID-19 occurred. Consumers were also able to purchase domestic seafood at prices more than 20% cheaper, easing their shopping burdens.

The Ministry expects that coupons worth 36.8 billion KRW will be used in the second half of the year, generating sales of 184 billion KRW.

A Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official explained, "Despite COVID-19, the seafood consumption market size was maintained and consumption contraction minimized through last year's win-win discount project," adding, "It contributed to fishermen's income by preventing price drops at production sites and stabilized production site prices by resolving market backlogs of abalone, squid, and other products."

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