Chuseok "Perceived Prices" Soar, Egg Prices See Largest Increase

Processed Foods and Livestock Prices Rise Together, Pressuring Household Meal Costs
Holiday Meal Preparations Simplified
Meal Kits Gaining Popularity Among Younger Generations

Seven out of ten people in South Korea said they felt prices had risen during this year's Chuseok holiday. As the prices of processed foods, livestock products, and seafood have all increased-most notably with egg prices seeing their largest jump in three years and eight months-the cost of household meals has gone up. With the burden of higher prices, people are also changing how they prepare holiday meals, opting for simpler methods rather than cooking everything themselves.

According to a "2025 Chuseok Holiday Perception Survey" conducted by market research firm PMI on October 6, which polled 1,000 adults aged 20 to 69 nationwide, 72.7% of respondents said they felt prices had risen during this year's Chuseok.

The most common response was "prices have risen compared to last year," at 47.8%, followed by "prices have risen significantly" at 24.9%. In contrast, only 2.2% said "prices have fallen compared to last year," and 10.5% answered "not sure," both relatively low figures. Notably, by age group, 31% of people in their 60s said "prices have risen significantly," higher than the average, while 14.5% of those in their 20s answered "not sure," indicating a generational gap in perceived holiday price increases.

In reality, due to increased holiday demand and other factors, egg prices recorded their largest jump in three years and eight months, while the overall upward trend in food prices-including processed foods, livestock, and seafood-continued. According to the "September Consumer Price Trends" released by the National Data Office on October 2, last month’s consumer price index stood at 117.06 (2020=100), up 2.1% from a year earlier.

Processed food prices rose 4.2% from the previous month, contributing 0.36 percentage points to the overall inflation rate. In particular, bread (6.5%) and coffee (15.6%) saw notable increases. Due to the rise in processed food prices, industrial product prices also climbed 2.2%, marking the largest increase in eight months since January.

Livestock and seafood prices also rose by 5.4% and 6.4%, respectively, driving up overall inflation. Domestic beef (4.8%), pork (6.3%), and mackerel (10.7%) all saw slower growth than the previous month, but their increases still far outpaced the overall inflation rate. Especially for eggs, demand surged ahead of Chuseok, pushing the price increase to 9.2% from 8.0% the previous month-the largest jump since January 2022 (15.8%).

As the burden of perceived price increases grows, there is a clear trend toward simplifying Chuseok holiday meal preparations. The most common method was "buying ingredients and cooking at home," at 34.1%, followed by "partly buying and partly cooking" at 33.7%. Next were "not preparing holiday meals" (21.8%), "using meal kits" (4.3%), and "purchasing or ordering all meals" (4.2%).

By age group, only 23.5% of people in their 20s and 24.5% in their 30s said they cook holiday meals themselves, while nearly half of those in their 50s (41.5%) and 60s (50.5%) do so, showing a clear generational gap. In addition, 8.0% of people in their 20s said they use meal kits, compared to just 1.0% of those in their 50s, indicating that convenient meal options are mainly spreading among younger generations.