Due to soaring fruit prices... Government to supply imported Oranges and Bananas at lower costs

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Holds Emergency Supply Stability Task Force Meeting
Expands Import of Alternative Fruits Overseas to Distribute Demand
Invests 20.4 Billion KRW in Apples and Green Onions to Support Lowering Delivery Prices

The government has decided to expand the import of alternative fruits from overseas to alleviate the public burden caused by soaring fruit prices. Bananas and oranges will be directly imported through the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) to be supplied to the market at affordable prices.

On the 6th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that it held an emergency supply stabilization task force meeting chaired by Vice Minister Han Hoon to review the 'February 2024 Consumer Price Trends for Agricultural and Livestock Products' and explore such countermeasures.

In February, consumer prices for agricultural and livestock products rose 12.8% compared to the same month last year, maintaining a high level following January's 8.7%. In particular, prices of fruits such as apples and pears, whose production decreased last year, and vegetables such as napa cabbage, green onions, and tomatoes, whose shipments declined due to frequent recent rainfall and lack of sunlight, continue to show strength. On the other hand, livestock products such as beef, pork, and chicken maintain relatively stable supply conditions, and processed food prices continue to slow their rise due to declines in international oil and grain prices.

A customer is purchasing apples at Hanaro Mart Yangjae Branch in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Accordingly, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has decided to implement comprehensive measures focusing on fruits and vegetables with recent strong prices. While directly reducing consumers' shopping basket burdens through support for delivery price reductions and expanded discount support, it will also pursue measures to expand supply, such as increasing imported fruits and promptly introducing quota tariff volumes and low-rate tariff quota (TRQ) volumes for green onions and dried red peppers.

Specifically, 20.4 billion KRW will be invested in March and April to support delivery price reductions for 13 items including apples and green onions. This aims to lower the selling prices of distribution companies. In addition, the budget for discount support projects will be significantly expanded so that a maximum discount of 40% can be applied to all items whose prices have risen by more than 30% compared to the previous and average years.

For items with insufficient domestic supply such as apples, pears, and green onions, the import of alternative fruits will be expanded to disperse demand. To this end, the items subject to quota tariffs will be expanded to include mandarins (tariff rate reduced from 50% to 10%, 500 tons), durians (tariff rate reduced from 45% to 5%, 1,300 tons), and pineapple juice (tariff rate reduced from 50% to 10%, entire import volume).

Oranges and bananas will be directly imported through aT to ensure affordable market supply. The specific import scale will be decided through consultation with budget authorities.

For green onions, an additional 3,000 tons of quota tariff volume will be added until May, before the spring green onions are shipped, and for dried red peppers, the 760-ton low-rate tariff quota (TRQ) stockpile will be released as quickly as possible.

Vice Minister Han said, "The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to respond by utilizing all available policy measures such as supporting delivery price reductions, discount support, and expanding overseas supply to reduce the burden of shopping basket prices for the public. Now is a time when everyone's cooperation is needed for price stabilization, so we will actively collaborate with related ministries, industries, and consumer groups to create synergy for price stabilization."

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