With Vegetable Prices Soaring, Kimchi Becomes 'Geumchi'... Will the Rush of Chinese Products Continue?

Vegetable Prices Continue to Rise... Radish Up 3x, Cabbage Up 2x
Typhoon 'Hinnamno' May Cause Further Increases
Kimchi Industry Raises Prices Again Following First Half
Imports of Relatively Cheaper Chinese Kimchi Increase

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Vegetable prices continue to rise due to consecutive adverse weather conditions such as heatwaves, heavy rain, and typhoons. In particular, the price of baechu (Korean cabbage) has more than doubled, leading to an expected increase in the price of packaged kimchi.

According to the Agricultural Products Distribution Information from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation on the 17th, the wholesale price of 10 kg of baechu as of the 13th was 35,140 won, up 129% from 14,368 won at the same time last year. The wholesale price of 20 kg of radish rose nearly threefold by 187%, from 10,864 won to 31,180 won. The price of cabbage also increased by 118%, from 5,529 won to 12,060 won for 8 kg. The wholesale price of 4 kg of spinach surged 81% to 61,780 won compared to 33,964 won last year. Onions, based on 15 kg, rose 58% from 14,400 won to 22,760 won, and minari (water dropwort) increased 21% from 62,300 won to 75,733 won for 7.5 kg.

The Korea Rural Economic Institute forecasts that vegetable prices will continue to rise this month compared to the same month last year due to a decrease in the shipment volume of major agricultural products.

This summer, frequent rain and reduced sunlight hours caused the spread of diseases, resulting in poorer baechu crop conditions than average. Consequently, production decreased, driving up wholesale prices. Furthermore, with Typhoon Hinnamnor (No. 11) making landfall on the Korean Peninsula this month and bringing heavy rain, there is a possibility of further disease spread. Production of other agricultural products has also declined, and prices are expected to rise further compared to last month.

In response to this situation, food companies have announced price increases for the second half of the year following the first half. Daesang, the market leader in domestic packaged kimchi, plans to raise the price of its 'Jongga Jip' kimchi by an average of 9.8% starting next month. CJ CheilJedang has begun sequentially increasing the price of its 'Bibigo' kimchi by an average of 11.0% across channels since the 15th. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation is also expected to raise the price of 'Korea Nonghyup Kimchi.'

As a result, imports of relatively cheaper Chinese kimchi are increasing. According to the Korea Customs Service export-import trade statistics, the import value of Chinese kimchi from the beginning of this year to last month was 109.62 million dollars, a 27.6% increase compared to 86.099 million dollars during the same period last year. In particular, the import value of kimchi last month surged 41.1% to 13.376 million dollars compared to August of last year.

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