Ministry of Agriculture Strengthens Supply Stability for Lettuce and Chicken Prices Raised by Heavy Rainfall

The government is taking additional measures to stabilize supply and demand, such as providing shipment incentives for agricultural products whose prices are expected to rise due to recent heavy rains.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the 24th, early replanting support will be provided by the 20th of next month for farmers affected by facility damage, such as lettuce, whose prices have risen due to decreased shipments. Early replanting support applies when the area damage rate exceeds the self-burden ratio for disasters compensated within the insurance period, with lettuce and cabbage being representative examples.

For facility vegetable farmers in unaffected regions, shipment incentives such as transportation costs and fees will be supported. Target items include lettuce, zucchini, cucumber, and perilla leaves. The support period for lettuce is from today until the 30th of next month, and for zucchini, cucumber, and perilla leaves, from today until the 6th of next month.

On the 20th, vendors are organizing vegetables at the Garak-dong Agricultural and Marine Products Market in Songpa-gu, Seoul, where the prices of agricultural products such as spinach, lettuce, and cucumbers have risen sharply due to production disruptions caused by heavy rain. The vendors said, "The vegetable prices have risen so much that we are afraid to even display the prices." Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Regarding chicken, 30,000 tons of the allocated tariff quota for the second half of this year will be imported early by the end of next month, with additional imports planned if necessary. Starting next month, 5 million chicks will be additionally supplied by importing hatching eggs. Additional chick stocking by affiliated companies will also be supported.

For napa cabbage and radish, stockpiled quantities (9,000 tons of napa cabbage and 6,000 tons of radish) will be released timely if prices rise in July and August. If prices rise in September and October, the already secured additional summer napa cabbage cultivation area of 120 hectares (approximately 7,000 tons) will be supplied to the market.

Items with rapidly rising prices each week will be selected for discount support. Until the 26th, a 20% discount (30% at traditional markets) will be offered up to a limit of 10,000 KRW per person on five items: onions, lettuce, spinach, perilla leaves, and chicken. From the 27th until the 2nd of next month, discounts will be applied to ten items: onions, lettuce, spinach, perilla leaves, chicken, potatoes, green onions, cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes.

Park Su-jin, Director of the Food Policy Office at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "We will do our best to stabilize grocery prices by monitoring the supply and demand trends of agricultural and livestock products daily."

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