SOARING FOOD PRICES

입력 2021.02.08 (15:19) 수정 2021.02.08 (16:52)

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[Anchor Lead]

With the Lunar New Year’s holiday just around the corner, soaring food prices are placing another burden on consumers already exhausted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is largely due to sluggish productions caused by unusual weather conditions last year. Concerns are also growing over soaring food prices worldwide.

[Pkg]

​A bustling supermarket ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Startled by higher food prices, shoppers hesitate to fill their carts. The hiked prices make it feel burdensome to prepare ancestral memorial ceremonies for the Lunar New Year.

[Soundbite] Yang Jeong-ja(Yeongdeungpo-gu resident) : "Vegetable prices have gone up. A bundle of scallions costs 5,000 won. So my family decided not to hold an ancestral memorial ceremony."

Fruits have recorded the steepest rise in price. Compared to the same period last year, apple prices soared 150 percent and pears more than 40 percent at supermarkets.

[Soundbite] (Supermarket employee) : "A packet of three pears was 17,500 won during last year’s Chuseok. But it is now 20,000 won. It has jumped sharply. However, people need them for memorial rituals."

The sharp price hike is being blamed on heavy rain last summer which caused serious damage on fruit productions. Prices of sliced rice cakes, the main ingredient for the traditional New Year's dish tteokguk, rose up to 20 percent on-year. Beef for making soup and broth jumped nine percent. Despite the government’s plan to import 20 million eggs before the Lunar New Year’s holiday, egg prices are continuing to rise amid the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation estimates it would cost an average of just over 374,000 won to purchase memorial ceremony necessities at supermarkets. That's up over 17 percent from last year. It seems the price growth has also been affected by soaring international prices of grain and poultry. The world food price index has been rising for eight months, due to unusual weather conditions coupled with the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. This is sparking concerns of a possible food crisis if the situation goes unchecked. The government says it will continue monitoring changes in international demand and supply of produce while sharing related information to enable government agencies and businesses to make timely responses.

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  • SOARING FOOD PRICES
    • 입력 2021-02-08 15:19:08
    • 수정2021-02-08 16:52:35
    News Today
[Anchor Lead]

With the Lunar New Year’s holiday just around the corner, soaring food prices are placing another burden on consumers already exhausted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is largely due to sluggish productions caused by unusual weather conditions last year. Concerns are also growing over soaring food prices worldwide.

[Pkg]

​A bustling supermarket ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Startled by higher food prices, shoppers hesitate to fill their carts. The hiked prices make it feel burdensome to prepare ancestral memorial ceremonies for the Lunar New Year.

[Soundbite] Yang Jeong-ja(Yeongdeungpo-gu resident) : "Vegetable prices have gone up. A bundle of scallions costs 5,000 won. So my family decided not to hold an ancestral memorial ceremony."

Fruits have recorded the steepest rise in price. Compared to the same period last year, apple prices soared 150 percent and pears more than 40 percent at supermarkets.

[Soundbite] (Supermarket employee) : "A packet of three pears was 17,500 won during last year’s Chuseok. But it is now 20,000 won. It has jumped sharply. However, people need them for memorial rituals."

The sharp price hike is being blamed on heavy rain last summer which caused serious damage on fruit productions. Prices of sliced rice cakes, the main ingredient for the traditional New Year's dish tteokguk, rose up to 20 percent on-year. Beef for making soup and broth jumped nine percent. Despite the government’s plan to import 20 million eggs before the Lunar New Year’s holiday, egg prices are continuing to rise amid the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation estimates it would cost an average of just over 374,000 won to purchase memorial ceremony necessities at supermarkets. That's up over 17 percent from last year. It seems the price growth has also been affected by soaring international prices of grain and poultry. The world food price index has been rising for eight months, due to unusual weather conditions coupled with the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. This is sparking concerns of a possible food crisis if the situation goes unchecked. The government says it will continue monitoring changes in international demand and supply of produce while sharing related information to enable government agencies and businesses to make timely responses.

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