Korea Consumer Agency Investigates 39 Items Imported from FTA Partner Countries
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in health foods has increased, and among major imported consumer goods, multivitamins were found to be the top-ranked item in the Consumer Welfare Index.
On the 29th, according to the results of measuring last year's Consumer Welfare Index for 39 items imported from countries with which Korea has signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), home economy-related products ranked high in the welfare index. This index is designed to measure and manage the effects of FTAs from the perspective of consumer welfare, calculated by considering the price, variety of choices, and consumption volume of 39 representative imported items. The index is based on 100 in its first year of development in 2018, with values above 100 indicating improved consumer welfare.
Last year, the Consumer Welfare Index for multivitamins rose 28.2% from the previous year to 157.1 points, securing first place. This is analyzed to be influenced by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which increased interest in health. Following this, coffee machines, which gained popularity due to the home cafe trend, rose 35.9% to 154.2 points, ranking second, and electric toothbrushes increased 30% to 151.8 points, ranking third. Fourth place was wine (151.7 points), which had the highest growth rate of 37.2%. Perfume (129.8 points) ranked fifth as demand for color cosmetics shifted to high-end products due to the normalization of mask-wearing.
On the other hand, lobster recorded the lowest score at 59.8 points, down 17.2%. Sunglasses (61.4 points), which suffered poor sales at duty-free shops and department stores due to the travel industry slump, ranked second to last. Contact lenses (73.4 points) also had a low welfare index. The Consumer Agency explained, "The decline in the indices for sunglasses and contact lenses was influenced more by a decrease in import volume than by factors such as quality, price, or variety."
The average score of the top five items in the Consumer Welfare Index was 148.9 points, up 26.2% from the previous year, while the bottom five items averaged 65 points, down 3.1%. The gap between the averages of the top and bottom five items widened from 50.9 points in 2019 to 83.9 points last year. The total welfare index last year was 101.1 points, up 2.3 points from the previous year. This indicates that despite the COVID-19 situation, consumer welfare for imported consumer goods has somewhat improved.
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