“Half sales of kimchi”… A domestic company that arouses to shock from China

# Mr. Kim, 43, who specializes in Haejangguk in Seoul, recently fell into trouble over kimchi. Chinese kimchi was changed to domestically produced by the Chinese’Naked Pickled Cabbage’ video, but the cost is 3 to 4 times higher. Mr. Kim said, “There are more customers nowadays throw away kimchi without touching them,” he said. “I’d rather use domestic kimchi, and I’m thinking about getting a side dish price only for customers who request more.”

Kimchi is in trouble when a video of pickling cabbage naked in China is released. The food authorities explain that the pickled cabbage is not related to the domestic market, but consumers’ anxiety is not resolved. Like gonggibap, some voices say that kimchi should be paid for.

◆ Increasing imported kimchi… 99% made in China

According to the Korea Customs Service on the 19th, imports of kimchi in China last year recorded 28,1186 tons. This is 15% of the annual consumption of kimchi in Korea (about 2 million tons). Every year, the amount of kimchi imports is increasing. Last year, the import of kimchi was $152.43 million, an increase of 16.4% from the previous year ($130.91 million). Of these, 99% are made in China. This is because the demand for domestic kimchi is decreasing due to the burden of raw material prices. According to the Agricultural and Fishery Food Distribution Corporation (aT), the price of cabbage (one bag) the day before was 4822 won, up 11.8% from the same year last year (4312 won). During the same period, dried red pepper (600g), the representative kimchi ingredient, also jumped 76% from 12,444 won to 21,919 won. Park Mo (38), who runs a kimchi stew specialty store in Dongdaemun-gu, said, “The customer seems to have been cut in half since the Chinese naked pickled cabbage video was released. Even if you want to use domestic kimchi, it is expensive. The price of 8,000 won for one lunch should be tripled.”

◆ “Kimchi is safe”, the presidents Myung Na-sun

As the video ripple spread, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety held an expert advisory meeting and began to evolve. The video shows an undressed man carrying pickled cabbage from a pit with an excavator. Experts concluded that the pickled cabbage was not directly related to the kimchi consumed in Korea.

Seo Hye-young, a senior researcher at the World Kimchi Research Institute, analyzed that “the pickling method changes physical properties such as the color of the cabbage and the tissue softening,” and “it is not suitable to be used as an ingredient for kimchi that is commonly eaten.” The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 12th that it has strengthened detailed inspections at the import customs clearance stage.

There are also restaurants that have tried to resolve their own distrust. Choi, 30, who runs a kimchi steaming shop in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, recently uploaded a photo and an official letter from a Chinese kimchi manufacturer on a delivery app. Choi said, “Since the naked pickled cabbage video was released, sales from 800,000 won a day have been cut in half to less than 400,000 won,” he said. “Amid the perception that all kimchi made in China will be unsanitary, self-employed people are driven to the edge of a cliff.”

◆’Nono China’ boycott fireball

There are also signs of boycotting due to the ripples of the naked pickled cabbage. Not only Chinese food, but also food companies and contents that export kimchi to China will spark fire. In one online community’s best post, CJ CheilJedang posted a picture of kimchi dumplings sold in China, as well as’Pao Chai, the Chinese notation of kimchi instead of kimchi’. Currently, CJ CheilJedang, Daesang, and Pulmuone are exporting kimchi products to China, marking it as’Pao Chai’ instead of kimchi. However, food companies explain that this has no choice but to include Pao Chai in accordance with the Chinese Food Safety National Standard (GB).

The tvN drama’Binsenzo’ was also hit by an indirect advertisement (PPL) by exporting bibimbap products from Chinese food company’Zhai Guo’. It is a criticism that the content is targeting China rather than domestic. The fire dung splashed as the object of supplying kimchi to Zhaiguo. Eventually, the Grand Prize also issued a position saying, “I am not involved in (Zhai Guo’s) domestic marketing activities.”

“The culture of self-ethnicism in China is growing more and more, and the trend is spreading around personal social network services (SNS), such as the recent controversy over Hanbok and Korean clothes,” said Lee Moon-ki, a professor at Sejong University’s Department of Chinese Commerce. “You have to think about how to stop it.”

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