Imported frozen strawberries are on a roll

Mr. Kim, a 30-year-old office worker living in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, recently buys and drinks a ‘strawberry latte’ at a nearby cafe after lunch. Mr. Kim said, “It catches my eye even more because it is a limited menu item in the winter.” However, the strawberries in Mr. Kim’s drink are most likely frozen strawberries from China, not domestic fresh strawberries. Last year, the import volume of foreign frozen strawberries increased significantly. There are criticisms that the strawberry consumer market that domestic strawberry producing regions worked hard to create is being given over to imported frozen strawberries. At the recent ‘Agricultural Outlook 2025’ conference, the Korea Rural Economic Institute announced that the import volume of frozen strawberries last year reached 16,774 tons. It increased by 31.3% compared to the previous year (12,771 tons). It more than doubled compared to 2015 (7,659 tons). By country, Chinese strawberries accounted for 58.3% of the total import ...