Increased Dining Out Demand for Gatherings... Pork Wholesale Prices Up 19.1% in a Month

6380 KRW per kg... 19.1% Increase Compared to Last Month
Chicken Prices Rise Due to Decrease in Slaughtering

As demand for dining out and outings increases, wholesale pork prices have risen by nearly 20% in a month.

According to the Livestock Products Quality Evaluation Institute's livestock distribution information on the 14th, the average wholesale price of pork as of the 11th was 6,380 KRW per kg, up 19.1% from a month ago (5,356 KRW).

Compared to the price on the 1st of this month, which was 5,697 KRW, it increased by 12.0% in just ten days.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This appears to be due to increased demand. Pork prices typically rise from spring to summer each year as dining out demand increases, then fall after Chuseok.

In the period from May 1 to 11 last year, coinciding with the lifting of the COVID-19 social distancing measures, dining out and gatherings surged, causing pork wholesale prices to spike to around 7,000 KRW per kg due to increased demand.

Currently, wholesale prices are lower than a year ago, but compared to the same periods in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2020 and 2021 after the pandemic, prices remain high.

Meanwhile, wholesale chicken prices have gradually risen from 3,363 KRW per kg in January to fluctuate around 4,000 KRW since March.

This is due to a decrease in chick supply and rising chicken production costs, which have led to a reduction in the number of chickens slaughtered.

Looking at this month's wholesale prices, they rose 7.3% in ten days from 3,786 KRW per kg on the 2nd to 4,061 KRW on the 12th.

As for beef (Hanwoo) prices, as of the 12th, they were about 16,000 KRW per kg, lower than approximately 19,000 KRW a year ago.

However, since foot-and-mouth disease has recently occurred at several Hanwoo farms in Cheongju, Chungbuk, quarantine measures have been strengthened nationwide for cattle farms and livestock facilities, so prices may temporarily rise.

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