South Korea Fresh Onion insights

South Korean agricultural researchers have developed and patented a new technology using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the quality of stored onions, EastFruit reports.

The agricultural income stabilization insurance will be put into full-scale operation starting next year. Attention is focused on whether the government’s proposed income stabilization insurance will be an alternative to strengthen the safety net for farm income in a situation where agricultural disasters due to abnormal climate and unstable agricultural product prices are threatening the sustainability of agriculture.  Income stabilization insurance is an insurance product that compensates for the decreased income when a farm’s income by item falls below a certain level. While crop disaster insurance compensates only for the decreased harvest, income stabilization insurance compensates for the decreased income by considering both the harvest and the price.  The nine items subject to the full-scale operation to be implemented nationwide next year are garlic, onions, cabbage, grapes, beans, autumn potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and barley. Six new items, including rice, sweet persimmons, autumn radishes, autumn cabbage, peaches, and tangerines (all-season citrus fruits), as well as spring and highland potatoes, are pilot projects that can only be subscribed to in some major producing areas and are scheduled to be converted to full-scale operations in the future. The government plans to expand the target to 30 important items in the national diet.  The income stabilization insurance is operated in a way that if the current income (current price × current harvest per farm) falls below 60-85% of the standard income (standard price × average harvest per farm), the difference is paid as insurance money. Farmers can choose the coverage level of 60, 70, 80, or 85% when signing up for insurance. For example, if they choose 80% coverage, they will receive insurance money when the current income falls below 80% of the standard income. The coverage amount is the difference between the amount corresponding to 80% and the current income (actual income).  In order to increase farmers’ choices regarding the level of coverage and insurance premiums, three insurance products will be introduced based on the standard price application criteria. Among them, the ‘past income type’ calculates income using the average price of the past five years, such as wholesale market prices, as the standard price. The ‘expected income type’ calculates the standard income by reflecting the increased price in the standard price when the harvest season price rises compared to the average year. However, the increase in the harvest season price is reflected only within 1.5 times the average year price. If the market price in the current year falls, the standard income is determined based on the average year price. For example, when the average harvest volume of soybean farm A over the past five years is 7,000 kg, the average year price of soybeans per kg is 5,000 won.

[Korea Agricultural and Fishery Newspaper] Onion farmers are concerned about weight falsification in imported onions and are urging the government to strengthen management and supervision, including full-scale measurement. Considering the 135% tariff on imported onions, the average price in the wholesale market recently should be around 1,200 won per 1 kg (based on product), but it is being traded lower than that. Onion farmers suspect that ‘weight falsification in imported onions’ by importers is a decisive factor in the distortion of the wholesale price of imported onions. Currently, some local customs offices are only collecting samples, measuring the weight, and then clearing the cargo according to the bill of lading, which contains the type and quantity of cargo.