"Onions 3,990 Won · Radish 990 Won"… Lotte Mart Eases Customer Burden Amid Soaring Prices

CA-Stored Onions Over 30% Cheaper... Freshness Maintained at Harvest
Small Sangsaeng Radishes Sold at 990 Won Each Compared to Regular Products

Lotte Mart is offering agricultural products such as onions and radishes at special prices. This move aims to ease the burden on customers amid concerns that rising agricultural product prices are driving inflation, known as agflation.

Lotte Mart announced on the 13th that from the 14th to the 17th, all stores will sell 'Freshly Harvested Firm CA Stored Onions (2kg/net)' for 3,990 KRW exclusively to L.Point members. This price applies when paying with promotional cards such as Lotte, Shinhan, and KB Kookmin cards.

CA-stored onions are being processed at the Lotte Fresh Quality Innovation Center.
[Photo by Lotte Mart]

This product is harvested before the price increase, making it more than 30% cheaper compared to market prices. In particular, it is priced about 20% lower than last year's 'CA Stored Onions (2kg/net)' which sold for 4,960 KRW.

This CA stored onion was harvested in June last year and stored under CA conditions for 9 months. CA (Controlled Atmosphere) storage is a method that controls temperature, humidity, and the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air to suppress aging of agricultural products, maintaining taste and freshness. Lotte Mart optimized temperature and humidity to ensure the quality of the onions was not degraded during CA storage.

Lotte Mart expects that the stored onions will help alleviate the concerns of consumers struggling with high prices.

Additionally, from the 14th to the 20th of this month, Lotte Mart will sell 'Sangsaengmu (900g)' radishes at 990 KRW each at all branches. Although these radishes are more than 20% smaller than regular products, they are 50% cheaper than market prices.

CA-stored onions are being processed at the Lotte Fresh Quality Innovation Center.
[Photo by Lotte Mart]

In the case of radishes, continuous rain in the Jeju region since early January this year reduced shipments, leading to price increases. In response, Lotte Mart planned Sangsaengmu and has been stocking sales volume since February. Through this Sangsaengmu sale, Lotte Mart plans to realize a win-win value by expanding sales channels for radish farmers and reducing the price burden on consumers. Sangsaengmu is also available at 38 Lotte Super stores including Jeongja and Expo branches.

Meanwhile, besides onions and radishes, Lotte Mart plans to apply a 20% discount coupon from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on eight major vegetables?spinach, lettuce, perilla leaves, green onions, zucchini, Cheongyang peppers, cucumbers, and paprika?until the 20th.

Lotte Mart's decision to offer these discounts comes as vegetable prices have become unusually high recently. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (KAMIS), as of the 11th, the retail price of spinach (100g) was 827 KRW, about 40% higher than the average year. Radishes also rose more than 10%, selling at 1,890 KRW each. These vegetable price increases are due to reduced shipments of regular products caused by poor harvests from abnormal weather last year.

Im Seung-beom, head of the vegetable team at Lotte Mart and Lotte Super, said, "We feel the increasing burden on customers as prices of vegetables commonly used at the dining table have soared compared to average years. We ask for your interest as we offer various vegetables, including stored onions, at discounted prices so that you can shop reasonably even during high inflation periods."