"Chuseok Peak Season Fruit Price Burden Expected to Ease... Supply Up, Demand Down"

Korea Rural Economic Institute Conducts Online Survey

This year's Chuseok holiday season is expected to see a lower burden of fruit prices compared to previous years. While the supply of fruit is projected to increase compared to last year, consumer demand for fruit may decrease somewhat.

Reference image. Yonhap News

The Agricultural Outlook Center at the Korea Rural Economic Institute announced on the 21st that, according to an online survey conducted from the 1st to the 5th of this month with a panel of 1,000 consumers, 35.7% of respondents indicated that their intention to purchase fruit for household consumption during Chuseok had decreased compared to last year, which is higher than the 9.5% who reported an increase. Meanwhile, 54.8% said their purchasing intentions remained about the same as last year.

The survey found that the main reasons for the decline in fruit purchasing intentions were "price burden" (62.1%), "family members dislike fruit" (11.9%), "fewer family members" (8.8%), and "poor quality" (8.8%), in that order.

However, the center expects that the price burden consumers are concerned about will ease. This is because the shipment volume of apples during the Chuseok peak season (the two weeks before Chuseok) is projected to increase by 6.5% compared to last year, pears by 7.2%, and persimmons by 119.3%, respectively.

This is attributed to Chuseok falling later than last year and the harvest periods for apples and pears being delayed due to high temperatures, resulting in concentrated shipments around Chuseok. As for persimmons, last year saw a smaller shipment volume due to an early Chuseok and delayed growth, but this year, most varieties are expected to be shipped, according to the center.

This survey was conducted as part of the "Analysis of Agri-food Consumption Information" project by the center, using a consumer panel managed by Embrain Research.