"Bread and Snack Prices Will Also Drop!"... Up to 400 Won Cut From April

The Financial News reported that, following ramen and cooking oil, confectionery, mass-produced bread, and ice cream companies have also decided to join the price cuts starting with products shipped in April. For 19 items, prices are expected to fall by 100 to 400 won, with a maximum reduction of 13.4%.
On the 19th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) held the third meeting of the Distribution Structure Inspection Team under the Task Force for Special Management of Essential Consumer Prices, chaired by Vice Minister Kim Jong-gu. The meeting reviewed the distribution status of key items handled by each ministry, such as eggs and pork, and checked progress on institutional improvement measures.
Since February, the Task Force for Special Management of Essential Consumer Prices and the Distribution Structure Inspection Team have been working with relevant ministries to stabilize perceived prices in the first half of the year. They are examining price drivers for key items, unfair practices, and inefficiencies in distribution, and are preparing improvement plans.
Through the first and second meetings, the Distribution Structure Inspection Team selected special management items for each ministry, taking into account their relevance to people’s livelihoods, the degree of price increases, and on-site feedback. Specifically, MAFRA is focusing on four items: eggs, pork, processed foods such as cooking oil, and garlic. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR) is managing four household goods: toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish soap, and disposable diapers. The Ministry of Health and Welfare is responsible for medication, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) for menstrual products, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) for items such as mackerel and laver, promoting on-site inspections and institutional reforms tailored to each product’s characteristics.
During the inspection process, there have also been results such as voluntary price cuts by industry. MAFRA has been communicating with the food processing sector to ensure that lower raw material costs are reflected in consumer prices. Last week, cooking oil and ramen companies decided to reduce prices on major products starting with shipments in April.
In addition, confectionery, mass-produced bread, and ice cream companies have decided to join the price cuts from April shipments as well. They made this decision to ease the burden on consumers, despite difficult business conditions and at a time when public concern over prices could grow due to heightened global uncertainty.
For 19 products from four companies in the confectionery, mass-produced bread, and ice cream sectors, prices will be reduced by 100 to 400 won, or up to 13.4%. More specifically, two confectionery companies will cut prices on a total of seven items—four types of biscuits and three types of candy—by an average of 2.9% to 5.6%. Two mass-produced bread companies will lower prices on four items by an average of 5.4% to 6.0%. Two ice cream companies will reduce prices on eight products by an average of 8.2% to 13.4%.
Going forward, the Distribution Structure Inspection Team plans to hold meetings every other week. It will share the progress of inspections focused on the special management items for essential consumer prices and continue discussing additional improvement measures.
For eggs, the team plans to check whether there are any unfair trading practices, such as layer farms demanding extra payments from distributors. For pork, starting this week, it is examining whether major meat processing companies are stockpiling hind-leg cuts and whether there are any artificial price hikes.
In connection with this, the government will also prepare measures to prevent a recurrence, including excluding the pork processing company recently sanctioned by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) for colluding on pork supply prices to large discount stores from access to policy funds.
MOTIR will examine price drivers across the entire lifecycle—raw material supply, manufacturing, and distribution—for four types of household goods: toilet paper, disposable diapers, laundry detergent, and dish soap. To stabilize consumer prices, it plans to work closely and comprehensively with manufacturers and the distribution industry.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has asked the pharmaceutical industry and distributors to share any plans to raise prices of over-the-counter drugs in advance. It is also continuously monitoring price trends for frequently purchased medications at pharmacies.
MOGEF plans to implement the so-called Public Sanitary Pad Dream Pilot Project, under which menstrual products will be stocked in various public facilities in the pilot regions in the second half of the year so that any woman in need can use them. By diversifying distribution through in-kind provision of sanitary pads, the ministry also expects a price-lowering effect.
MOF will shorten the interval for inventory checks at major cold storage warehouses handling mackerel from once every three months to once a month starting this month, in order to monitor any build-up of stock. For laver, the ministry is continuously tracking supply trends for raw and dried laver and identifying areas for improvement by gathering opinions from producers and processors.
If the Distribution Structure Inspection Team detects suspected cases of collusion during its inspections, it plans to work with the Unfair Trade Inspection Team to link these cases to investigations and crackdowns. Vice Minister Kim Jong-gu of MAFRA stated, "To stabilize essential consumer prices, we will make every effort to inspect the distribution status of key items such as eggs and pork," and emphasized, "Please thoroughly examine whether there are any practices that have long been taken for granted but may be considered unreasonable from the public’s perspective."
syj@fnnews.com Seo Young-jun Reporter