High Napa Cabbage Prices Causes a “Kimchi Crisis” in Korea
Gimjang is the long-held Korean tradition of communal kimchi-making (wikimedia commons).
A particularly severe typhoon season has caused a shortage of napa cabbage in South Korea. Napa cabbage is the key ingredient in kimchi, a staple served with just about every meal in homes and restaurants alike. Heavy rains and several typhoons in the late summer months destroyed fields of cabbage and left much of the salvaged crop in ruins, leading to a kimchi crisis.
This year’s rainy season stands as the longest on record and included three typhoons between August and September. Kim Da-jung, a research fellow at Korea Rural Economic Institute, said “Cabbage in particular is quite sensitive to climate change,” explaining that even the cabbage crop that survived failed to meet typical quality standards.
The loss of so much cabbage has created a kimchi shortage. Studies have shown that South Koreans consume more than two million tons of kimchi each year. According to the South Korean Cultural Heritage Administration, 95 percent of Koreans eat kimchi more than once a day, and more than half eat it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Korean homemaker Jin Hye-ryun expressed the sentiments of many: “We can’t stand life without kimchi even for one day.”
The price of cabbage has increased by more than 60 percent, which has caused chaos in marketplaces. Market attendant Kim Soo-ok stated that while many people refuse to buy cabbage at such high prices, even more have stockpiled it. Many have traveled outside the city to buy directly from farmers in an effort to purchase the ingredient at a cheaper price.
Several have resorted to stealing cabbages from markets or right out of fields. Households and restaurants, as well as major corporations, have struggled with this cabbage shortage. Daesang Corp, the largest kimchi maker in Korea, has suspended the online sale of cabbage. Meanwhile, CH CheilJedang Corp looked into the possibility of importing cabbage from China. Kimchi has become so expensive that Koreans have begun jokingly calling it geumchi, which, in Korean, means gold and sounds similar to “kimchi.”
The national and local governments have tried to find a way to keep up with the high cabbage demand. The Seoul city government has agreed to provide 300,000 heads of cabbage while covering 30 percent of the cost in order to ease the financial burden on consumers and farmers. The Korean government has even put a temporary hold on tariffs against Chinese produce to supplement the low supply. Imported Chinese cabbage began arriving in Korea on October 11. These Chinese cabbages sell for about one fourth of the price of domestic cabbages. However, an incident in 2005 that found cabbages from China contaminated with parasite eggs in 2005 has left several apprehensive to the quality of the imported cabbage.
The cabbage shortage coincided with many Koreans stocking up in preparation for gimjang, an annual tradition of communal kimchi-making. UNESCO added gimjang to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2013. The UN also stressed the importance of gimjang, saying the tradition “reaffirms Korean identity” and is important for bringing together Koreans of all backgrounds to strengthen family bonds.
Even though the price of cabbage has reached new heights, ZenKimchi.com editor Joe McPherson remarked that people would still make kimchi, even if they have to “make less of it or use substitute ingredients.” Fortunately, the Agricultural Ministry remains hopeful that the price of cabbage will stabilize by mid-November, just in time for gimjang. As one housewife from Seoul stated, “Gimjang must go on.”