South Korea Vegetables insights

It is expected that the spring cropping area of major leafy vegetables such as cabbage and radish will increase across the board. According to the ‘March Leafy Vegetable Observation’ recently released by the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the total cropping area of spring cabbage was found to be 3,623 ha. It increased by 6.5% compared to last year and 4.2% compared to the average year. The field cropping area was 3,280 ha, increasing by 6.2% and 6.4% compared to the previous year and the average year. The facility cropping area (343 ha) increased by 9.7% and 6.4%. The expected increase in spring radish was greater than that of cabbage. The total cropping area of spring radish was 935 ha, increasing by 12.0% compared to the previous year and 8.4% compared to the average year. Spring carrots (1017ha) are expected to increase by 8.2% and 6.6% compared to the previous year and average year, and spring cabbage is expected to increase by 5.6% and 1.6%. According to the Rural Development Administration, the facility cultivation of these leafy vegetables has been completed as of the 14th (very early planting period) and the field cultivation is in progress. Ji Seon-woo, head of the leafy vegetable observation team at the Rural Development Administration, said, “Cabbage has increased in cultivation (intended) area due to high prices during the seedling period and increased demand for storage to ease the volatility of summer cabbage supply.” He added, “The increase in area is due to the increase in prices of spring radish and spring carrots during the previous year’s harvest period and spring cabbage during the sowing period.” The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced in an explanatory material released on the 10th, “We are working to stabilize the supply and demand of spring crops by expanding the contract cultivation and purchase reserves of spring cabbage and spring radish by 45% and 50% compared to the previous year, and supporting contract farmers with seedling purchase costs and pesticide costs.” Reporter Jin-soo Jeong

[Reporter Sang-Hyeon Seo, Korea Agricultural and Fishery Newspaper] About 580 tons of imported cabbage were traded through the Garak-dong Agricultural and Fishery Products Wholesale Market from January to February, but it is pointed out that it did not have a significant effect on supply and demand stability and only fueled producers' anxiety. According to the aT Wholesale Market Integrated Website, about 586 tons of imported cabbage were traded at the Garak-dong Agricultural and Fishery Products Wholesale Market from January to the end of February 2025. Of these, about 60 tons of cabbage traded since February 10 were delivered to kimchi processing plants, and the rest were cabbage for wrapping, which were distributed to restaurants through food material companies, according to market officials. The imported cabbage currently being distributed was imported through quota tariffs.

[Reporter Woo Jeong-su, Korea Agricultural and Fishery Newspaper] The government has announced a policy to stabilize the supply and demand of agricultural products by steadily supplying government-stockpiled and privately stored quantities to the market and encouraging the consumption of alternative fruits. In addition, the government has mentioned the expansion of quota tariffs as a solution to the shortage of some items such as cabbage and radish. However, considering that the government's continued expansion of quota tariffs is not helping either the producing areas or the consuming areas, the effectiveness of this is expected to be questioned again. Based on the results of the consumer price survey in January, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs recently announced that agricultural products last year