South Korea Faces Drought Crisis: Cabbage Prices Soar, Urgent Import of 16 Tons of Chinese Cabbage to Stabilize Market

Sejong, September 24 (Yonhap) -- In view of the continuous high temperature and dry weather led to a decline in Chinese cabbage production, which triggered a rise in prices, the South Korean government has decided to import Chinese cabbage from China, and urged distributors to increase market supply in advance to ensure the stability of Chinese cabbage prices.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Food announced measures to stabilize the prices of horticultural agricultural products on August 24. Due to the impact of high temperatures and drought, the yield of Chinese cabbage is not good, resulting in insufficient supply in the market. According to data from the middle of this month, the average wholesale price of cabbage is 9,537 won (about 50 yuan), while the retail price is between 20,000 and 23,000 won.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food has decided to import fresh Chinese cabbage because it expects the supply of Chinese cabbage to continue to decrease for some time to come. This is the fifth time that the Korean government has taken measures to import Chinese cabbage. The ministry of Agriculture and Food plans to import the first batch of 16 tons of cabbage on July 27, and will gradually increase the import amount according to the production situation in China. The Korea Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Distribution Corporation (aT) will supply imported cabbage to restaurants and food suppliers.

In addition, the government will continue to provide subsidies to local distributors and agricultural cooperatives to encourage them to increase the market supply of Chinese cabbage in advance, and plans to support major supermarkets to carry out discount promotions before next month 2 to reduce the financial burden on consumers.