At the vegetable section of a large discount store in Seoul on the 25th, Kim, 56, picked up a bag of lettuce, checked the price tag again, then put it back on the shelf instead of placing it in her cart. After examining the prices of the perilla leaves and cucumbers next to it in turn, she ultimately chose cheaper vegetables. "It seems more expensive than a few days ago, so I cut back on how much I planned to buy," Kim said. "In the past, I would prepare plenty of wrap vegetables when eating meat, but now I think I need to buy only as much as I need."
Park, 29, a newlywed living in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, is also feeling the rise in vegetable prices. Park, who often steams vegetables at home, said, "Napa cabbage was more expensive than I expected, so it was hard to put in my cart, and there was a time I chose cheaper perilla shoots instead of perilla leaves." Lee, who runs a ssambap restaurant in Jung-gu, Seoul, is worried that last year's situation, when people even said "vegetables cost more than meat," may be repeated. "I can't easily raise menu prices, and if I reduce the amount of wrap vegetables, I'm worried about customers' reactions," Lee said. "If wholesale prices rise further, I'll have no choice but to adjust my order volume or suppliers."
As heavy rains disrupted harvesting and shipments at production sites, leafy vegetable prices have risen sharply over the past few days. There are concerns that if a heat wave continues after the rains stop, poor growth and disease could combine to further burden consumers and the restaurant industry.
According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation on the 27th, the average retail price of 1 kilogram of premium young radish was 3,051 won that day, up 23.8% in a week from 2,464 won on the 20th. Over the same period, eolgari cabbage rose 19.4%, red lettuce 17.9%, perilla leaves 17.4%, spinach 15.5%, and water parsley 15.2%. Broccoli and prickly cucumber prices also jumped 24.9% and 17.4%, respectively. These items saw prices rise sharply around the 23rd and remained at high levels through the 27th.
The rebound in leafy vegetable prices, which had been stable for some time, is attributed to reduced work at production sites and lower shipment volumes immediately after the heavy rains. Lettuce is mainly shipped from Nonsan in South Chungcheong, Iksan in North Jeolla, and Icheon in Gyeonggi, while young radish and perilla leaves are also grown mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area and the Chungcheong region. Among these, South Chungcheong and North Chungcheong bore the brunt of rain damage on the 8th to 10th of this month. Of the 401.5 hectares of nationwide crop flooding at the time, the damaged area in the two regions reached 347.9 hectares.
Lettuce, perilla leaves, and young radish have the leaves themselves as the product, and their storage period is short. They are crops for which the shippable volume drops quickly if the leaves are damaged by rain or the harvest time is missed. This is why flood damage is likely to lead directly to a rise in retail prices.
The problem is the heat wave that has continued after the rains stopped. Once a crop is flooded, its root function weakens, and if exposed to high temperatures, its growth can become even poorer. In hot and humid conditions, diseases such as soft rot, in which crops become mushy and rot, can also spread easily, worsening the supply situation. In particular, for green chili peppers, young summer squash, and tomatoes, the longer the heat wave lasts, the more likely flowers fall or fruit cracks, which can lead to shipment disruptions weeks later.
An agricultural produce buyer at a large discount store voiced concern, saying, "For cucumbers and paprika, it's gone beyond simply delayed harvesting; at some production sites the fruit quality has declined and the fruit isn't setting properly, so the volume of normal products fit for distribution is decreasing." He added, "If the high temperatures persist, poor growth and pest damage could reduce even the next shipment volume."
The distribution industry currently sees the price rise as a short-term uptick in some items, but is closely watching conditions at production sites. If the heat wave lasts, poor growth and disease damage could appear in other items with a time lag. Companies are focusing on securing supplies that are relatively less affected by weather and on reducing dependence on specific production areas.
An industry official said, "(Although prices have risen recently) at this point, the possibility of medium- to long-term supply instability is not high," but added, "If damage occurs simultaneously across multiple production areas, there could also be limits to securing alternative supplies."
