[르포] “The salary is the same, but the prices are rising… What should I do on Chuseok’s turn?”

“The price of fruits has gone up without picking any apples, plums or watermelons. I have to look around 4 or 5 places to find cheap ones.”

On the afternoon of the 3rd, Kim Min-hee, 42, an office worker, met at a hypermarket in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, and said that he sighs every time he goes shopping.

“The salary is the same, but prices seem to keep going up,” he said.

On this day, two weeks before Chuseok, customers with shopping carts agreed that the price of Chuseok items was expensive.

A housewife (63) said, “Nothing is cheap. All items that look cheap are card event products, so if you don’t have a card, you have to pay a few thousand won more.”

Another housewife said, “Eggs are still expensive,” and “15 eggs are 10,000 won even if a 10% discount is applied.”

At the store that day, two grapes were sold for 15,000 won. In the case of fertilized eggs for animal welfare, even with a 10% discount, 10 eggs were 7,000 to 8,000 won.

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◇ “No fruit, no eggs, no meat.”

On the same day, at a traditional market in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, customers and merchants said that fruits, eggs and meat were expensive.

A 40-year-old woman who visited a fruit store with her daughter laughed as if disappointed, saying, “A box of peaches was 20,000 won three weeks ago, but today it was 28,000 won.”

An employee of this store said, “Two pears cost 5,000 won, but a month ago, they were around 4,000 won.

Gumo (63), who runs an egg shop, said that eggs, which cost 5,500 won per plate (30 pieces) last year, are now 6,500-7,500 won.

At a butcher shop in the market, 1 pound of Korean pork belly was 15,000 won. According to the owner, Mr. Hwang, two months ago, it was between 11,000 and 12,000 won.

However, they say that the prices of products in traditional markets have risen less than department stores or marts.

A customer with green onion in his hand said, “The price does not seem to have risen significantly in the traditional market.” “Some fruits are expensive, but I do not feel that prices have risen overall, including vegetables.”

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◇ The price of holy items is running high… “It costs around 300,000 won per turn.”

Recently, the price of Chuseok holy items has risen sharply.

According to the consumer price trend in August announced by Statistics Korea on the 2nd, egg prices jumped 54.6% from a year ago.

Spinach (35.5%), red pepper powder (26.1%), rice (13.7%), and pork (11.0%) also showed a large increase.

According to the agricultural distribution information of the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT), the price of pears (based on 10 or less retail products) as of the 30th of last month was 32,791 won, up 21.3% from a year ago.

Among livestock products, eggs (medium items, 30 pieces) rose 25.3% to 6,747 won. Pork samgyeopsal (refrigerated medium, 1 kg) rose 15.9 percent to 27,200 won.

As the price of major agricultural and livestock products has risen, it is estimated that it will cost more than last year to prepare a table for four people on Chuseok this year.

According to the results of a survey conducted by the Korea Council of Consumer Organizations Price Monitoring Center on the cost of 24 items of Chuseok service items in 88 markets and retailers in 25 autonomous districts in Seoul from the 30th to the 31st of last month, it was found that an average of 303,369 won was needed for a table of four people. .

This is a 9.3% increase from the average cost (274,768 won) in the first survey on Chuseok last year.

According to a survey conducted by Korea Price Information, a price research institute, as of the 31st of last month, the cost for a family of four in traditional markets was 274,500 won, which is 1.5% higher than last year.

In the case of using a large mart, it was found to be 338,820 won, an increase of 2.4%.

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