FAS/Seoul Monitoring of Media Reporting on Agricultural Issues

Today's Date: Friday,  January 27,  2023

For Coverage:  January 25 ~  26, 2023

The Korean Bank Reported Negative Growth on 4th Quarter Will be Negative Growth… Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Rated 1.5% Growth

https://www.mk.co.kr/news/economy/10618306

Summary: Due to last year’s export slump and lack of private consumption, Korea’s economy recorded negative growth for the first time in ten quarters.  Despite a 0.4% decline in Net Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to the last quarter, better trade conditions resulted in Net Gross Domestic Income (GDI) increasing 0.1%.  Also, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported 1.5% growth compared to the last quarter.  Annual Net GDI has dropped 1.1% compared to last year.  Trade condition changes caused by increased oil prices have made Annual Net GDP to fall short.

KOTRA’s AI Platform “Dream” Helps SMEs Go Overseas South Korea’s Kimchi Imports Hit Record High in 2022 on Inflation

https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?sc=30800028&year=2023&no=72148

Summary: An online platform “Dream” developed by Korea Trade-investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) that provides offshore market information has been serving as a frontline source of support for South Korean exporters since the establishment in December 2021 by offering overseas entry information from 79 ministries and public and private agencies.  KOTRA recently upgraded the platform with AI for more tailored service.  The AI helps the website aggregate and analyze vast amounts of offshore market reports about various export items, including information on market demand as well as potential buyers for products. Companies hoping to enter new markets are making use of the platform to see which markets have the greatest potential. 

Increasing Quota Tariff Caused High Increase in Import Pork

https://www.donga.com/news/Economy/article/all/20230126/117583300/1

Summary: Last year pork import had largely increased due to low-price import pork applied with quota tariff in high market-price.  Compared to last year, import volume of pork increased 25.9% and import volume of chicken increased up to 54%.  Also, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has noticed that import beer volume has been declining over the consecutive 3 years while import whiskey and wine volume have been increasing.  As public interest in health increases, health functional food demand is rising, resulting in a growing trend for the import of health functional food.

Processed Food Prices Rise After New Year Holiday

https://www.donga.com/news/Economy/article/all/20230126/117581157/1

Summary: Food industry’s prices hikes are still in process after Lunar New Year holiday.  The main cause of the raise is due to logistic cost and raw material price increases.  According to the distribution industry, from the start of February, convenient store price of frozen goods will be rising about 5~11%.  Haitai Ice Cream and Woongjin Food Inc will be raising their product price from 7% to 20%.

“Try Our Popular ‘Vegan’ Menu“ Vegan Trend Strikes Distribution Industry

https://www.donga.com/news/Economy/article/all/20230125/117577495/1

Summary: As vegan food culture becomes popular, an increasing number of distribution companies are expanding their vegan and plant-based meat product offerings, including creating vegan product tasing menus within stores.  Convenient stores are also strengthening their vegan products.

Liquor Prices Increase [Dong-A Daily, 1-26-2023, Korean, PJS]

https://www.donga.com/news/Economy/article/all/20230125/117577426/1

Summary: Imported Beer Company Heineken has announced that they are raising all their products’ prices about 7~10% from February 10.  HiteJinro is also examining price raise of imported beer due to increased raw material price and various expenses.

Health Functional Food, Livestock Product Imports Highly Increased… Kimchi Imports Turned to an Upward Trend

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=100735

Summary: Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) reported 3% increase in ‘2022 imported food statistics’ on a weight basis, which is more than twice the average growth over the last 5 years, and a 19.6% increase in value of imports.  While there was an even increase in imports of all product categories compared to the previous year, there was a significant increase in health functional food and livestock product imports, which contributed to last year’s 3% rise.  Among 166 countries U.S. and China consist of 33.8% out of total food and imports to Korea.  Last year, livestock products accounted for 9.5% of the total import volume, which was a 14.5% growth compared to the previous year.  Fishery products also shows increased import volume, hitting 6.2% of the total volume in 2022, an increase of 7.7% compared to 2021.  Health and functional food imports increased by more than 20% compared to 2021.  MFDS also looked at customs non-compliance and found 1427 cases of violations in 2022, a violation rate of 0.18%.  MFDS continuously conducts random and precise sampling inspection to manage imports and ensure products in violation are not distributed in the Korean Market.  MFDS noted that there were 317 pesticide residue violations in the case of agricultural products in 2022 from all countries, which is 112 cases more than 2021.

South Korea’s Kimchi Imports Hit Record High in 2022 on Inflation

https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?sc=30800025&year=2023&no=69735

Summary: South Korea’s import of kimchi recorded an all-time high in 2022 amid spiraling consumer inflation in the country, data showed on Wednesday (25/01/2023).  Inbound shipment of kimchi reached up to 20.4% from a year earlier which is the highest growth since a 23.8% jump in 2010.  The surge was attributed to high price of cabbage and other kimchi ingredients in Korea, which prompted restaurants and food suppliers to resort to cheaper imports from China.  The kimchi price of leading kimchi makers in Korea (CJ, Daesang) was hiked by nearly 10% last year.  It is the first time in seven years that kimchi exports have fallen.