Agriculture Ministry: "Cabbage Supply Unavoidably Decreases for Now... Importing Cabbage from China" (Update)

Initial shipment import on the 27th
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: "Most imported cabbage is for restaurant and food material companies"
Continued shipment incentives and discount support needed for household supply and price stability

The government has decided to import Chinese cabbage to increase supply, as a decrease in cultivation area and unusual heatwaves have caused poor growth and an inevitable reduction in cabbage supply for the time being.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs held a meeting at the Government Complex Sejong to review the supply and demand and growth conditions of agricultural products and discuss measures regarding the supply and demand situation of horticultural products.

Napa cabbages are displayed at a large supermarket in Yangjae-dong, Seoul. Photo by Yongjun Cho jun21@

First, to increase supply, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will import Chinese cabbage. Park Sun-yeon, Director of Distribution and Consumption Policy at the ministry, said, "Starting with an initial shipment of 16 tons on the 27th, we plan to import Chinese cabbage," adding, "China is also experiencing high temperatures similar to Korea, which has affected cabbage cultivation, so we plan to expand the supply volume accordingly."

Chinese cabbage is expected to be mainly supplied to restaurants and food material companies. Director Park explained, "We previously imported cabbage in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2022, and those quantities were supplied to the dining-out and food material sectors," adding, "Based on the recent demand survey, imported cabbage will also be distributed to dining-out and food material companies."

The ministry will continue to provide shipment incentives and discount support to reduce consumer burden in order to expand the supply of cabbage for household use and stabilize prices.

An official from the ministry stated, "Currently, summer cabbage being shipped is experiencing poor growth due to reduced cultivation area, severe drought during the growing period, and prolonged unusual high temperatures," and added, "It is expected that supply will decrease compared to the average volume." Accordingly, the ministry plans to support rapid disaster recovery to minimize the impact of flood and other damage on supply and demand, and cooperate with local governments and the NongHyup to take measures such as replanting and pesticide control.

In particular, as a decrease in cabbage supply is expected to be inevitable for the time being, necessary measures will be taken to stabilize cabbage supply and demand. First, the government will secure available stock at all times and flexibly supply it to the market according to the situation in production areas. Additionally, domestic cabbage will be purchased step-by-step during periods of high shipment volume from production areas.

Along with this, shipment incentive support will continue to ensure that quantities held by local distributors and NongHyup are supplied to the market early, and discount support will be extended until the 2nd of next month to reduce consumer burden by lowering prices by up to 40% at large supermarkets. Direct supply of government-held stock will also be conducted simultaneously. NongHyup plans to implement its own supply measures by directly supplying contracted cultivation quantities to Hanaro Mart and selling them at discounted prices.

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