Ancestor, This Chuseok Table Has a Slight Shortage of Apples

Spring Cold Damage... Shipment Volume Decreases and Demand Increases
Pears Similar... Meanwhile, Dan-gam Persimmons Likely to Have Lower Prices

As the Chuseok holiday approaches at the end of September, prices of major fruits such as apples, pears, and peaches are expected to rise compared to last year.

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Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

According to the "Agricultural Outlook September Issue: Fruits" report released on the 6th by the Korea Rural Economic Institute, wholesale prices of major fruits, except for sweet persimmons, are predicted to increase compared to the previous year. This is because fruit demand has increased ahead of Chuseok, while shipments have mostly decreased.

In particular, the expected price of apples (Hongro variety) is forecasted to rise by 160% compared to the same month last year (28,400 KRW), reaching 70,000 to 74,000 KRW per 10kg. The main cause of the price increase is the occurrence of many deformed fruits due to low-temperature damage in spring.

Pears (Shingo variety) are also expected to see a price increase of about 60% compared to the same month last year (32,800 KRW), with the expected price ranging from 51,000 to 55,000 KRW per 15kg. This is due to an increase in deformed fruits and a decrease in well-shaped and commercial fruits caused by low-temperature damage.

Additionally, shipments of citrus (house-grown), grapes (Campbell Early and Shine Muscat), and peaches (Fantasia and Elberta) have decreased, leading to price increases of approximately 10 to 60% compared to last year.

On the other hand, sweet persimmons (Seochon Early variety) are expected to see a decrease in wholesale prices due to increased shipments. The expected price for sweet persimmons in September is 26,000 to 30,000 KRW, which is 2 to 15% lower than the same month last year (30,800 KRW).

Last year, sweet persimmons were shipped mainly as immature fruits that had not fully ripened due to the early Chuseok period, but this year, late-ripening varieties such as the late-maturing type are also being shipped, which is expected to lower prices.

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