South Korea: Low price reports of dried onions from China have raised "suspicions"

Suspicions have been raised that Chinese dried onions are imported into Korea through low-price declarations. The core of the suspicion is that some importers report import prices lower than they actually are, lowering the tariff burden, and then distributing them at low prices in Korea. In a situation where domestic onion prices have plummeted like never before, great controversy is expected if these allegations are confirmed as true. Recently, several importers have claimed that Chinese dried onions are declared for import at a price significantly lower than the local price. An official from a company that imports dried agricultural products said, “In the process of examining the import of dried onion from China, we learned that domestic importers are reporting dried onion at a price similar to that of fresh onion. It is significantly higher than this fresh onion, so it is a situation in which the low price declaration is suspected.” It is estimated that the import price ...