Lotte is raising prices for 17 products in the new month
Cocoa prices skyrocket… An average increase of 12%
Concerns about long supply and demand instability such as production volume
Seasoned seaweed rises 20%, ‘table prices’ soar
▲ The status of changes in the prices of the main products of Lotte Well Food – Page 21 Following the recent increase in the prices of chicken and hamburgers, processed foods have also joined the list of price increases. As international cocoa prices soared, Lotte Well Foods decided to raise the prices of chocolate products, and the price of seaweed, whose domestic supply fell due to a surge in exports, rose by up to 20%. As the rise in product prices, which had been delayed until the general election, appears at the same time, the saying “everything goes up except wages” is becoming a reality.
According to the food industry on the 18th, Lotte Well Foods decided to raise the prices of 17 types of products, including chocolate snacks and ice cream, by an average of 12% from the 1st of next month. Representative chocolate products, Ghana Mild (34g), will increase by 16.7% from 1,200 won to 1,400 won, and Chocolate Pepero (54g) will increase by 5.9% from 1,700 won to 1,800 won win
The biggest reason for this increase in prices is said to be the surge in the price of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate. According to the ICE Futures Exchange in New York, USA, the cocoa futures price recorded $10,559 (about 14.5 million won) per ton on the 15th (local time). Since breaking the previous record of $4,663 per tonne (July 1977) in January this year for the first time in 47 years, the price has been breaking new highs every day. The company explains that the instability of supply and demand is likely to extend as cocoa production in West Africa decreases due to abnormal weather and pests, and chocolate consumption in other regions is expected to increase. Lotte Well Food is the only company in Korea that imports cacao beans and makes chocolate.
On this day, Lotte Well Food sent an official letter requesting cooperation for a price increase to its partners, saying, “We have been trying to endure (the surge in raw material prices) on our own, but by that it has exceeded the limit we can tolerate, we inevitably adjust the standard prices of sweets and ice creams containing chocolate.” The company said, “Although this price increase does not fully reflect the market price increase, we have no choice but to proceed with a limited price increase only for chocolate products.”
The price increase movement of processed foods is also the same for side dishes. Seasoned seaweed specialist companies such as Seongseong Food, Gwangcheon Seaweed, and Daecheon Seaweed raised their product prices by 10 to 20% due to the increase in the price of the main ingredient, raw seaweed. Seongkyung Foods has raised the prices of seaweed products by about 10% on average in some distribution channels, and plans to raise prices to the same level in supermarkets and online within the next month. Gwangcheon Kim also raised the prices of most items by 15-20% starting this month, and Daecheon Kim also raised the prices of products such as seaweed powder by about 20% last month.
The reason for the price increase is that production is not keeping up with the demand for seaweed. Recently, the production of raw plants that grow in the sea has decreased due to climate change, including rising water temperatures, and foreign demand is increasing rapidly due to the craze for K-food as gimbap According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, seaweed exports last year reached a record $791 million (KRW 1.0868 trillion). Because seaweed production is strongly influenced by climate, production cannot be increased quickly enough to keep up with demand.
For this reason, the price of seaweed continues to rise as domestic supply falls. According to the Korea Agri-Fishery and Food Trade Corporation (aT), on this day, the median wholesale price of one pack (100 sheets) of dried won seaweed was 10,440, up 12.3% from the previous month (won 9,299) and 57.9% since the previous year (6,610 gained). For this reason, it is highly likely that major seaweed manufacturers such as Dongwon F&B and CJ CheilJedang will soon join the process of raising seaweed prices.
Reporter Park Eun-seo
#Sweet #chocolate #snacks #Pepero.. #bitter #price #hike
