Vice Minister Ki Jae: "Swift Customs Clearance for Fresh Fruits... Easing Price Burden through Supply Expansion"

Visit to Bonded Warehouse for Imported Fruits
Inspection of Supply Status

Kim Byunghwan, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is attending the Emergency Economic Vice Ministers' Meeting and Price-Related Vice Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 12th. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Kim Byung-hwan, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, visited a bonded warehouse for fresh fruit imports near Incheon Airport and companies related to direct fruit imports by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) on the 18th to review the entire fruit import supply process and listen to on-site opinions.

During the inspection, Vice Minister Kim explained, "To alleviate the burden on consumers, the government applied tariff quotas to 21 types of fruits including bananas and mangoes on January 19, and from April 5, added 8 more types such as kiwi and cherries, significantly expanding the tariff quota items to 29." He added, "We are making every effort to stabilize fruit prices by expanding the quota-applied volume to cover the entire import volume."

Imports of fruits subject to tariff quotas amounted to about 210,000 tons cleared through customs from January to the end of March this year, an increase of 25.1% compared to the previous year. Since March, the government has supplied about 10,000 tons of fruit to the market at prices 20-30% lower.

The government is gradually expanding aT's direct-imported fruits starting with medium and large supermarkets, and since the 4th, has been supplying them to over 12,000 neighborhood markets nationwide at prices reduced by up to 30%.

Vice Minister Kim urged, "To stabilize grocery prices, the Korea Customs Service should ensure no difficulties in the customs clearance process so that imported fruits can be smoothly supplied, and aT should supply more than 50,000 tons of direct-imported fruits without disruption by the end of June."

Meanwhile, Vice Minister Kim visited the Incheon Airport Customs Express Logistics Center to understand the customs clearance trends of overseas direct purchase goods from China, following the recent surge in users of Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Ali, Temu, and Shein. The government has formed and is operating a joint task force to manage the safety of overseas direct purchase goods and prevent consumer damage.