North Gyeongsang Province Mobilizes to Ensure Shine Muscat Grapes Receive a Fair Price During Chuseok

【Financial News, Andong = Kim Jang-wook】“Ship on time, ship properly!”
North Gyeongsang Province brought together officials, farmers and agricultural cooperative representatives from the province’s four major Shine Muscat production areas to discuss shipping measures aimed at ensuring the grapes receive a fair price.
On the 2nd, North Gyeongsang Province held a meeting at the provincial government’s small conference room to discuss measures for stable shipments of Shine Muscat and improvements to its distribution structure. Participants included officials from the province’s major production areas—Gimcheon, Yeongcheon, Sangju and Gyeongsan—as well as farmers, Agricultural Products Processing Centers (APCs), the North Gyeongsang Regional Headquarters of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, and the North Gyeongsang Agricultural and Food Distribution Education and Promotion Institute.
Park Chan-guk, director of the Agricultural, Livestock and Distribution Bureau, emphasized, “It is important to prevent shipments from being concentrated in a particular period ahead of Chuseok and to supply consumers with high-quality Shine Muscat grapes. We will actively support producers, agricultural cooperatives and distribution-sector participants as they work together to establish stable shipping practices and an orderly distribution system.”
As concerns over falling Shine Muscat prices continue, worries about a price collapse in September and October have grown. This is because this year’s Chuseok falls earlier than usual, raising the possibility that shipments of products before the holiday will be concentrated.
The province organized the meeting to discuss response measures, including spreading out shipping schedules and strengthening quality control. The aim is to ease market concerns in advance and restore consumer confidence, which has been damaged by shipments of immature fruit.
The meeting covered shipping and price trends for Shine Muscat ahead of Chuseok. Participants discussed how to distribute volumes appropriately to prevent shipments from being concentrated in a particular period and how to ensure a stable supply of high-quality grapes to the market. They also heard from farmers and distribution-sector participants and reviewed support measures and institutional improvements for the stable development of the grape industry.
In particular, the participants agreed to reduce early shipments of immature fruit—both greenhouse-grown and open-field grapes—in September and to strengthen quality control from production through distribution so that high-quality Shine Muscat grapes can receive a fair price.
Producers agreed to ship grapes that meet quality standards, including a sugar content of at least 16 Brix and bunch weights of 400 to 1,000 grams, while maintaining an appropriate fruit load.
Agricultural cooperatives and Agricultural Products Processing Centers agreed to carefully inspect product quality from the receiving stage onward to prevent low-grade Shine Muscat grapes from entering the market.
Alongside short-term measures to stabilize shipments, the province is continuing to pursue medium- and long-term measures to strengthen the competitiveness of North Gyeongsang Province’s grape industry.
Meanwhile, the province is diversifying its export markets by expanding into Taiwan, the United States and Canada. Its export target for this year is 10,000 tons and $80 million. By the first half of the year, it had exported 2,071 tons worth $16 million, marking increases of 85% in volume and 44% in value from the same period last year.

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