The cost of buying mango jumps 30% in a year
Imported beef and pork are also on the rise
The retail industry is struggling to find alternative production sites
Shopping cart prices are showing signs of variation again due to the onslaught of the ‘King Dollar’. This is because the prices of fruit, meat, wine and whiskey imported from abroad continue to rise one after the other.
According to a major market on the 19th, the cost of buying imported mangoes from last week (10th to 16th) rose by 30% compared to the same period last year. The cost of buying blueberries and bananas also jumps by 24% and 17%, respectively.
Imported meat prices are also outrageous. Imported beef increased by 20% and pork by 15% compared to the previous year. Following the increase in the purchase cost, the selling price of the imported food in this supermarket has been on the rise recently.
The factors that increase the price of imported food are complex. Prices began to rise from the beginning of this year due to a reduction in production in the main regions of the world due to the abnormal climate and an increase in logistics and labor costs. The surge in fertilizer and feed prices due to the Ukraine war also had an impact.
This has been driven by the recent sharp rise in the exchange rate. The higher the dollar, the higher the cost of imports. According to the export-import price index published recently by the Bank of Korea, the import price index in August was 154.38, up 3.3% from the previous month. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries products rose by 4.0%.
The industry expects imported food to increase further over a significant period of time. This is because there is a delay before food imported from all over the world arrives in Korea by boat.
Food companies are also very nervous. As the price of imported raw materials soars, pressure to raise product prices increases again. The CEO of a major food company said, “The high exchange rate has emerged as a new cover following the sluggish crop and the sharp rise in grain prices due to the war in Ukraine.
In order to respond to the high exchange rate, all retailers have started to implement an ’emergency plan’. E-Mart recently discovered Colombia and Ecuador as alternative producers as the price of bananas from the Philippines skyrocketed due to the high exchange rate and poor harvest.
Bananas from Central and South America are stable in terms of quality and production, and the price is about 5% cheaper than bananas from the Philippines. They also change the currency of the payment to the currency of the country of origin instead of the dollar.
Homeplus copes with the high exchange rate by increasing its import volume to avoid the peak season in China. In China, after holidays, when consumption increases greatly, before the next holiday arrives, purchases are made at a low price when consumption decreases. This year, the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (August 15th of the lunar calendar) and National Day (October 1st) bought king crab intensively and presented them at a low price.
By Park Jong-gwan, pjk@hankyung.com staff reporter
