South Korea: Slow kimchi consumption equates collapse on production of raw agricultural products

There is a growing sense of crisis that the fall of kimchi raw material agricultural products will accelerate and lead to the collapse of the production base of the agricultural products. For agricultural products such as cabbage, radish, red pepper, and garlic, which are used as ingredients for kimchi, the growing area, production, and self-sufficiency rate are all markedly decreasing. Imports of Chinese kimchi are steadily increasing, and even domestic kimchi is struggling with sluggish consumption. In addition, the surge in imports of frozen peppers and frozen garlic from China is also acting as a negative factor. According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the cultivation area of cabbage, the core ingredient of kimchi, decreased by 46% over 20 years from 55,578 ㏊ in 2000 to 3610 ㏊ in 2020. As the cultivation area decreased, the output also decreased by more than 1 million tons, from 3529,000 tons in 2000 to 2217,000 tons in 2020. The self-sufficiency rate ...