Photo : YONHAP News
In a move to stabilize the price of napa cabbage, which has seen its prices soar due to heat waves and droughts, the government has decided to import them from China directly.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on Tuesday that it plans to secure as much quantity as possible and supply it flexibly to the market to stabilize the supply and demand of the cabbages used to make kimchi.
With the first batch arriving on Friday, the imported vegetables will be supplied mainly to restaurants and food material companies.
The wholesale price of napa cabbage this month was nine-thousand-537 won or about seven dollars per head, with some consumers reporting that the retail price of high-quality cabbages is as high as 20-thousand won.
Although napa cabbage is being imported, they are purchased by small companies and not enough to bring down prices. The government is importing the vegetables through the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation.
This marks the fifth time that the government is directly importing napa cabbage, following 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2022.