South Korea extends tariff exemption measure on imported fruits

The Korean government announced that it will continue to exempt a wide range of imported fruits from tariffs in the first six months of 2025, in its fight against food price inflation in the local market. Imports of bananas, pineapples, mangoes, grapefruits and avocados have been exempt from tariffs since January 2024, and durian and mangosteen were added to the list in April. However, on January 2, the government confirmed that all these products will remain tariff-free for the first half of 2025, although subject to quotas. It is important to remember that imports of bananas, pineapples, mangoes, grapefruits and avocados are usually subject to a 30% tariff. These fruits will now be duty-free up to certain volume thresholds, which are set at levels similar to the total import volume of each product in the first six months of 2024. Banana imports are duty-free up to a volume of 200,000 tonnes. Total banana imports from Korea in the first half of 2024 exceeded 227,000 tonnes, ...