Seoul City to Control Chuseok Prices by Increasing Supply of 9 Chuseok Seasonal Items by 110%

Announcement of Price Stability Management Measures for Chuseok Holiday... Simultaneous Resolution of Price Stability and Livelihood Stability
Operation of 'Comprehensive Price Countermeasures Situation Room' to Monitor Price Trends and Respond Urgently, On-site Price Stability Activities
Increased Supply through Expanded Contracts for Rapidly Rising Prices of Lettuce, Spinach, etc.... Shipment Incentive Raised from 10% to 15%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Ahead of Chuseok, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will directly visit production areas of fresh vegetables such as lettuce and spinach, whose prices have soared due to heatwaves and heavy rains, to sign shipment agreements and maximize supply. Shipment incentives paid to farmers will also be temporarily expanded to help stabilize supply and demand.

On the 30th, Seoul announced a price stabilization management plan for the Chuseok holiday to help stabilize prices and improve public welfare. The main points of this plan are: ? Expanding supply of items with soaring prices and stabilizing prices through stable distribution ? Intensifying price monitoring systems and establishing fair trade order ? Revitalizing the local economy and supporting small business owners.

First, the plan aims to maximize market supply volumes of fresh vegetables with soaring prices and Chuseok peak agricultural, livestock, and fishery products to induce price stabilization. Specialized auctioneers at Garak Market will visit major production areas of five fresh vegetables with rapidly rising prices (lettuce, spinach, young radish leaves, cucumber, pumpkin) to assess crop conditions and local trends, and directly sign shipment agreements with farmers to ensure stable supply.

The ‘shipment incentive’ paid to farmers will also be temporarily increased from the usual 10% of the consignment fee to up to 15%, reducing the commission burden on farmers. The ‘consignment fee’ is the transaction fee paid by shippers (farmers) to wholesale market corporations when shipping agricultural products.

During the Chuseok period, nine key items with particularly high demand?apples, pears, napa cabbage, radish, jujube, chestnuts, croaker, pollock, and anchovies?will be designated as priority management items, and supply volumes will be increased up to 110% compared to usual. The expected total supply volume is 11,628 tons.

In addition, unfair trade practices will be strictly cracked down on, and price trends by item will be continuously disclosed to establish a transparent distribution and trading order. Price and origin labeling compliance, hoarding, and other behaviors will be intensively inspected to ensure the supply of high-quality agricultural and fishery products.

Accordingly, local districts will conduct guidance and inspections on inappropriate acts such as failure to display prices and origin labels, and measurement violations before and after the holiday period. The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation will intensively crack down on unfair trade practices such as illegal consignment, hoarding, and price collusion to manage trading order in wholesale markets. Price monitoring will also be conducted for 10 agricultural and forest products, 4 livestock products, and 6 fishery products with rapidly increasing demand during Chuseok to understand price trends and recommend supply-demand adjustments to the government for items with rising prices.

Furthermore, direct support will be provided to revitalize small business owners and neighborhood markets that may be depressed due to rising prices. When prices rise, consumption itself may decrease, causing chain damage to small business owners.

The city will issue Seoul Love Gift Certificates worth 479 billion KRW starting September 1 to help increase sales for small business owners. The use of discounted gift certificates will encourage visits to neighborhood markets, naturally increasing sales and revitalizing commercial districts. For traditional market merchant associations wishing to hold Chuseok events, a total of 250 million KRW in project funds will be provided to support the preparation of various events that attract consumers. From the 29th, 153 traditional markets are holding various events such as discounts on ritual items and citizen participation events.

For small business owners facing multiple hardships such as sales decline, rising loan interest rates, and ongoing fixed costs, an additional 50 billion KRW ‘4-No (無) Safe Finance Special Fund’ will be supplied. Although 1 trillion KRW was supplied from early this year, it was fully exhausted by April, and additional supply was decided due to continuous field demands. For small business owners who started (or restarted) their business after January 1, 2020, when social distancing measures due to COVID-19 made normal operations difficult, a 250 billion KRW scale ‘Safe Startup/Re-start Business Fund’ is also being supported through 4-No loan methods.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Chuseok holiday, Seoul will operate a ‘Comprehensive Price Countermeasure Situation Room for Chuseok’ in cooperation with the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation and local districts. The situation room will manage price conditions by monitoring the supply status and price trends of peak agricultural and fishery products in real time, and conduct joint emergency price inspections with local districts if necessary, playing roles in price stabilization and establishing distribution order.

Han Young-hee, Seoul’s Director of Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy, said, “This Chuseok holiday, citizens are expected to face burdens from soaring prices and small business owners will experience difficulties due to the sluggish economy. We will efficiently implement price stabilization measures focused on stable supply of agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, establishment of fair trade order, and concentrated support for revitalizing neighborhood economies to reduce citizens’ burdens and worries.”

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