South Korea Halts 30,000 Tons of Cabbage Shipments as Prices Plunge 42% and Farmers Plow Under Fields
South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced additional supply stabilization measures on November 11: starting in the second half of this month, shipments of about 30,000 tons of autumn napa cabbage from roughly 400 hectares in major growing areas, including Haenam in South Jeolla Province, will be halted, with participating farmers compensated above their production costs. A previously announced purchase and stockpile of 10,000 tons will also begin in mid-November.
The price plunge reflects a surge in supply and weaker demand. The Korea Rural Economic Institute projects this year's autumn cabbage output at about 1.214 million tons, up 19% from a year earlier, while demand for kimchi-making cabbage is estimated at 583,000 tons, down 9.1%. From November 1 to 10, the average wholesale price was 1,900 won per head, down 42% year on year and 32% below the seasonal average. Data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation put the average retail price at about 3,700 won per head on November 4, down roughly 38% in a month.
Growers have already taken to the fields in protest. On November 5, the North Chungcheong chapter of the Korean Peasants League rallied in a cabbage field in Cheongju, where farmers drove tractors over fields nearing harvest, saying three months of work could not even recover production costs, and demanded effective measures.
Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryung said cabbage prices have fallen this year on rising output and sluggish consumption, adding to the difficulties facing farmers, and that the government plans to buy and stockpile additional winter cabbage at year-end if prices remain weak.
(Source: South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)
Source: 韩国农林畜产食品部
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：农场工人把采收的大白菜装入筐中（资料图）。照片：美国农业部，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Farm workers loading harvested napa cabbage into a crate (file photo). Photo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
