Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs “Promoting supply and demand measures for radish and cabbage… We will ensure that there is no shortage of supplies.”

Song Mi-ryeong, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said on the 6th, “The government will thoroughly manage the market to ensure there is no shortage of supplies through imports of cabbage and radish and expansion of spring crop cultivation area.”

Minister Song said, “If illegal distribution activities such as hoarding and price fixing due to the rise in agricultural product prices are discovered, we will be severely punished.”

As the price of cabbage and radish showed an upward trend due to poor harvests in the winter, there are signs of an adjustment in distribution volume, with storage demand from distributors and kimchi companies increasing due to expectations of further increases in production areas.

Accordingly, Minister Song visited the Seoan-dong Agricultural Cooperative vegetable shipment control facility in Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do on this day to inspect the condition of the cabbage in storage and personally observed the market shipment situation.

Minister Song said, “With expectations of further price rises, producers and kimchi companies tend to increase storage volume and reduce market supply. This may lead to a price crash due to oversupply of cabbage and radish in the spring, so distributors at the producer, etc. We requested that we actively ship the quantity we have to the market, and that kimchi companies refrain from storing excess processed quantity.”

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT), the average retail price of cabbage on this day was 5,211 won per head, up 64.8% and 38.8%, respectively, compared to a year ago and the average year.

The average price is the three-year average excluding the maximum and minimum prices from 2020 to last year.

Radish costs 3,330 won per piece, which is 84.3% more expensive than a year ago and 58.7% more expensive than the average year.

The Korea Rural Economic Institute predicts that this year’s spring cabbage cultivation area will increase by 4.7% compared to last year and by 2.5% compared to the average year.

The spring radish cultivation area is also expected to increase by 6.3% and 2.9%, respectively, compared to last year and the average year.

If the cultivation area expands while there is a large amount of storage, there is a risk that the price will fall sharply.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, “The government and related organizations will continue to promote supply and demand measures,” and added, “We do not expect the supply shortage of cabbage and radish to last long.”

In order to reduce the burden on consumers, the government has decided to support the sale of cabbage and radishes at discounts of up to 40% at supermarkets and traditional markets until the 29th.

In addition, the government plans to release 10,550 tons (tons) of cabbage and radish to Garak Market per day from the amount available to the government, and expand the supply of contract cultivation from Nonghyup.

The non-import quota tariff application period has been extended until next month, and the cabbage quota tariff application period, which ended last month, is also scheduled to be further extended.

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