Gov't expands list of tariff-free fruits, but leaves apples out

President Yoon Suk Yeol talks with government officials about rising grocery prices during his visit to Hanaro Mart’s Yangjae branch in southern Seoul on March 18. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

The Korean government will add cherries, kiwis and mangosteens to the list of products with little or no import tariffs, continuing to focus on restraining rising prices of domestically produced apples and pears.

President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Hanaro Mart’s Yangjae branch in southern Seoul to monitor grocery prices and announce a set of other measures. This follows the government’s latest injection of 150 billion won ($112 million) to stabilize the surging prices of agricultural products.

Presently, 24 types of fruits — including oranges, bananas, pineapples, mangos and grapefruits — are subject to tariff exemption, but five more items have been added.

Still, the administration shied away from importing apples, a mainstay fruit among Koreans, potentially out of fear of anger among domestic farmers and the need to establish a fresh customs procedure.

“The government will ramp up support to fund discount [of agricultural products] without limiting the period, type and size to a degree where the prices return to the level of normal years,” the president said.

“Apples and pears will be granted higher support as they will likely post rising prices for a significant period due to the abnormal weather,” Yoon said.

The prices of fruits, particularly apples, have soared since last year due primarily to a shrinking supply affected by abnormally low temperatures and anthrax outbreaks.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, the price of ten kilograms of apples was 91,700 won as of March 13, up 123 percent on-year. The Ministry of Economy and Finance reported that the apple supply declined 30.3 percent last year compared to the previous year.

The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation is working on importing bananas and oranges directly, and a Finance Ministry official said the new batch of fruit imports will likely hit shelves by the end of this week.

The uptick came as Korea is struck by inflationary pressure across the board entering this year.

Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, climbed back to 3.1 percent in February, following a modest growth at 2.8 percent in January.

Statistics Korea showed that fruit prices in February jumped 40.6 percent from last year, 37.5 percentage points higher than the 3.1 percent on-year headline inflation in the same month.

That gap was the largest since data on fruit prices started to be compiled in January 1985. The last time the difference was this large was in May 1991 at 37.2 percentage points.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]