Falling Shine Muscat... Cultivation Area Up, Quality Down

Last Year, Fruit Sales Dropped to 4th Place
Campbell Early Cultivation Area Surpassed
Large Mart Seeks High-Quality Products

An employee at Emart is arranging Shine Muscat grapes at the fruit display. (Photo by Emart)

Housewife Kim Mi-hee (34) recently purchased Shine Muscat grapes but was left disappointed. Attracted by the significantly lower price, she added them to her cart, but after tasting them at home, she found that the flavor was not the same as before. Kim said, "It seems that the sweetness of Shine Muscat has definitely decreased these days," adding, "At this point, it would be better to buy and eat other fruits."

Recently, the popularity of Shine Muscat, known as the "luxury grape," has been declining. This is due to a sharp increase in cultivation area and production over the past few years, leading to overproduction and a decline in quality.

According to Lotte Mart on the 9th, as of December last year, grapes (including Shine Muscat) ranked 4th in total fruit sales. This is a drop of one rank from 3rd place in 2020 and 2021. In 2021, the top five fruits were strawberries, tangerines, grapes, tomatoes, and apples, while last year, the order was strawberries, tangerines, apples, grapes, and tomatoes in terms of sales.

In the past, Shine Muscat was considered a rare variety, but now it has become more common than the general variety (Campbell Early). This is because farmers switched cultivation varieties, causing production to surge. According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, last year, the domestic grape cultivation area by variety showed Shine Muscat (6067ha, 41.4%) surpassing Campbell Early (4642ha, 31.7%). This year, the gap is expected to widen further with Shine Muscat at 6576ha and Campbell Early at 4376ha.

Although the cultivation area of Shine Muscat has expanded significantly, there are concerns that quality management is not being properly conducted. Some farmers brought products to market earlier than the normal harvest time to sell at higher prices, which also contributed to quality degradation. A large supermarket official pointed out, "Last year, some early-harvested open-field Shine Muscat products were under-ripe," adding, "Thorough quality control will be important going forward."

Large supermarkets are seeking high-quality Shine Muscat grapes. Emart has built a quality database for about 280 farms and manages products with strict standards such as a minimum of 15 Brix sweetness, grape aroma, and texture. Especially targeting demand for Lunar New Year gift sets this year, they increased the supply of Shine Muscat grown at altitudes over 1000 meters in Jirisan and Munjangdae by 30-40% compared to last year. In high-altitude areas, good sunlight and appropriate temperature differences result in higher sweetness compared to products grown on flatlands.

Lotte Mart sells 100% of its Shine Muscat supply after quality verification using non-destructive sweetness sorting equipment. They sell Shine Muscat grapes with a minimum sweetness of 16 Brix and also operate a premium Shine Muscat line with sweetness above 18 Brix. Homeplus has designated 21 Shine Muscat farms as fresh farms to secure product competitiveness. A large supermarket official said, "With the recent rapid increase in cultivation area, the need for Shine Muscat quality management has been raised," adding, "We are strengthening inspections for standard sweetness and decay among supplying farms and strictly excluding raw materials from farms that do not meet the standards."