Grocery prices feel impact of heat, rain double whammy

Consumers shop for napa cabbages at a traditional market in Seoul on Sunday amid soaring grocery prices. [NEWS1]

The recent heavy rainfall and heat waves sweeping across Korea have driven up grocery prices, further weighing down household budgets.

Ms. Lee, a 54-year-old housewife living in northern Seoul, had to take a cabbage out of her shopping cart after checking the price tag at a local mart on Sunday.

“One cabbage costs 3,980 won ($2.97) here — that’s twice the regular price,” she rued.

Other products on the shelves were no different, as white radishes, green onions and lettuce are also getting more expensive.

“I couldn’t do my grocery shopping for a while because of the price hike following the heavy downpours, and now it seems like the prices just keep going up,” said Lee, who is wary of the increased grocery bills with about a month left before the Chuseok harvest holidays.

Grocery prices have been on the rise over recent weeks following heavy downpours and heat waves.

The wholesale price of cabbage rose 21.1 percent on year to 12,760 won per 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds), according to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation Monday. That is a 78.7 percent jump from a month ago, and about 37.5 percent more expensive than the average price in the same period of the past five years.

The napa cabbage wholesale price increased 10.9 percent on year to 19,820 won per 10 kilograms, a 104.7 percent hike from the previous month. White radishes grew 1.2 percent more expensive on year at 26,060 won per 20 kilograms, up 78.8 percent on month.

The price of apples jumped 44.4 percent on year to 86,225 won per 10 kilograms, which is up 90.9 percent from the five-year average.

The price surge is mainly driven by the shrinking agricultural yield due to the recent downpours and hot temperatures. The uptrend could further accelerate as the damage caused by Typhoon Khanun, which swept through Korea last week, is yet to be reflected in grocery prices.

The typhoon, which hit Korea on Aug. 10, damaged 1,565.4 hectares (3,868.2 acres) of farmland, out of which 612 hectares of orchards suffered damage due to fallen fruits, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Most of the farmlands that reported fruit damage are apple farms in the Gyeongsang region.

“We have identified the area of damage, but are currently working on the damage rate,” an official from the Agriculture Ministry said, adding that “the damage is not likely to be that significant.”

However, as the yields of apples and pears were already expected to shrink by 20 percent due to abnormal weather during the spring, the recent typhoon could further aggravate the situation for the farms.

In response to the soaring grocery prices ahead of Chuseok in late September, the government recently released 12,500 tons of stockpiled napa cabbages and 4,500 tons of white radishes.

BY YI WOO-LIM, SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]