South Korea: Bullish price streaks green lettuce as quantity plummets

The price of green lettuce is soaring. At the Garak Market in Seoul on the 4th, the meridian price per box of 4 kg of green lettuce was 83,378 won. This is 134% and 275% higher than the average meridian value of 35,605 won in July last year and 22,238 won in July of the average year, respectively. It also rose 238% from the average of 24,691 won last month. The main reason for the strong price is that lettuce growth is sluggish due to drought and high temperature, and thus production has decreased. Noh Hee-gwan, a plant grower in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, said, “If the temperature of lettuce is higher than 30℃, it stops growing and the leaves die, making it difficult to ship to the market.” In fact, in the last week (June 28 to July 4), the amount of green lettuce brought in from Garak Market in Seoul was 86 tons, down 23% from 111 tons in the same period last year. "This year's drought was severe and the high temperature came quickly, so the import volume of ...