Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Goes All Out to Export Early-Ripening Pears for Chuseok to the U.S.... Dedicated Shipping Space Expanded

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is promoting the export of early-ripening pears timed for the Chuseok holiday to expand exports of Korean pears to the United States despite difficult logistics conditions such as rising maritime freight rates.

Korea's pear exports to the U.S. amounted to $30.9 million last year, with the U.S. accounting for 43.1% of the total pear export value ($71.7 million), making it the largest market. About 10% of this consists of early-ripening pears, which are mainly sold during the Chuseok period.

This year, domestic pear production is expected to increase by about 18% compared to the previous year (247,000 tons) due to favorable weather conditions that increased fruit set, with minimal damage from typhoons and rainfall. Therefore, stabilizing domestic prices and supply through exports is necessary.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is providing quality management technical guidance to farms so that high-quality export products can be distributed before Chuseok, considering that this year's Chuseok is earlier than usual. They are also supporting early arrival of U.S. quarantine inspectors to enable prompt on-site inspections.

Additionally, in August, the peak season for early-ripening pears, the ministry plans to expand dedicated agricultural shipping space to support export logistics.

Port congestion in the U.S., which has continued since the second half of last year, is understood to have somewhat improved. At the U.S. West Coast ports (Los Angeles and Long Beach), the time from arrival to customs clearance, which took more than 15 days in March this year, has recently been shortened to about 7 days, making it possible to sufficiently supply pears for Chuseok by ship transport.

However, in the eastern regions such as New York, where the sailing distance is longer and recent port congestion has worsened, pears arriving at the U.S. West Coast will be supplied to the eastern regions through inland transportation such as trucks to ensure early-ripening pears are evenly distributed throughout the U.S.

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