"Nothing Has Not Risen"... More Than Half of High-Consumption Processed Foods See Price Increase

14 out of 28 Items Increase Prices by Over 10%
Raw Material Price Hikes Affect Manufacturer Price Increases
Processed Food Price Rise Leads to Consecutive Increases in Dining Menu Prices

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Eun-mo] More than half of the processed food products that consumers have been purchasing frequently this year have shown double-digit growth rates. This is attributed to the ongoing price hikes by major manufacturers due to raw material supply issues caused by the Ukraine war and other factors.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency's Price Information Portal Chamgagyeok on the 16th, out of 28 frequently consumed processed food items as of October this year, the selling prices of 25 items increased compared to December last year. Notably, 14 of these 25 items recorded a high increase rate of over 10%.

The rise in international raw material prices appears to have impacted processed food prices. Due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, prices of grains, palm oil, and soybean oil have increased, pushing the global food price index to a record high of 159.7 in March, the highest since the index was introduced in 1996. Processed foods tend to have significant downward price rigidity once prices rise, suggesting that the high price increases in processed foods are likely to continue to burden consumers' grocery bills as well as dining-out expenses.

Looking at the items with price increases, grain-processed products were frequently listed due to raw material price hikes combined with major manufacturers raising their ex-factory prices. The item with the highest price increase during this period was soup, which rose by 52.2%. Ottogi’s ‘Cream Soup (80g)’ increased from 1,676 won to 1,980 won, up 18.1%, and Nongshim’s ‘Bono Corn Soup (57g)’ rose from 3,022 won to 3,562 won, up 17.9%.

Flour (40.4%), fish cake (32.8%), and noodles (30.7%) also rose more than 30%, ranking high among the items with the largest increases. Daehan Flour’s ‘Gompyo Flour Medium Strength Multipurpose (1kg)’ increased from 1,498 won to 1,729 won, up 15.4%, while during the same period CJ CheilJedang’s ‘Baeksul Somyeon (900g)’ rose from 2,826 won to 3,460 won, up 22.4%, and Ottogi’s ‘Old-fashioned Noodles Somyeon (900g)’ increased from 3,080 won to 4,085 won, up 32.6%.

Gochujang (28.3%) and coffee mix (28.0%) also recorded high increase rates. Earlier, CJ CheilJedang raised the price of ‘Taeyangcho Gochujang made with Korean rice’ (1kg) from 16,360 won to 18,300 won in September, and Daesang increased the prices of ‘Chungjungone Sunchang Doenjang and Gochujang’ sauces by an average of 12.8% in October. Dongseo Food, the leading coffee mix company, decided to raise product ex-factory prices by an average of 9.8% starting today, citing increases in raw material costs such as coffee beans, starch syrup, and sugar. This is the second price hike this year following one in January. For example, the ex-factory price of Maxim Mocha Gold Coffee Mix (1.2kg) will change from 12,140 won to 13,330 won, and Maxim Kanu Americano (90g) from 15,720 won to 17,260 won.

Other items such as frozen dumplings (25.7%), cheese (24.6%), cooking oil (23.6%), canned tuna (23.6%), cereal (15.6%), cola (14.3%), instant rice (13.4%), and curry (10.1%) also recorded double-digit growth rates.

Dining-out menus that strain wallets are no different. Prices of eight major dining-out menus (gimbap, jajangmyeon, kalguksu, naengmyeon, samgyeopsal, samgyetang, bibimbap, kimchi jjigae set meal) have all increased this year, with five of these menus rising by more than 10%. The menu with the highest increase was jajangmyeon, with the price of a bowl in Seoul last month at 6,531 won, up 14.7% from 5,692 won at the end of last year. During the same period, relatively cheaper gimbap rose from 2,731 won to 3,085 won, up 13.0%, and samgyeopsal (200g) increased from 16,897 won to 18,954 won, up 12.2%. Additionally, kalguksu and naengmyeon rose by 11.1% and 10.8%, respectively.

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