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Every year, nearly 20% of mandarins were discarded or sold at rock-bottom prices simply because of their small size. However, since last year, relaxed shipping standards have allowed consumers to enjoy these smaller mandarins at affordable prices.
Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the story.
[Reporter]
Ripened yellow mandarins hang abundantly from every tree.
Stems are snipped with scissors and placed into baskets.
Freshly harvested mandarins vary in size when compared side by side.
Quite a few of them fit snugly right into the palm of a hand.
Until now, it was difficult to sell these small mandarins at a fair price.
Under Jeju Island regulations, mandarins with a diameter of less than 49mm were fundamentally restricted from being shipped as commercial goods.
In the past, these tiny mandarins under 49mm in diameter were either thrown away or used to make fruit juice.
Accounting for 10% to 20% of the total harvest, such small mandarins were always a headache for farming households.
[Oh Chi-hyo / Mandarin Orchard Owner: They have the same taste and the same sugar content, but simply because they were small, they were excluded even though they were the same oranges, which caused a lot of hardship for the farms.]
However, Jeju Island's mandarin shipping standards were relaxed late last year.
Mandarins with diameters between 45mm and 49mm and a sugar content of 10 Brix or higher can now be distributed.
[Ko Seung-ju / Jeju Wimi Agricultural Cooperative Manager: We are supplying them at about half the price. It allows us to ship such delicious (mandarins) to consumers at a reasonable price and plays an important role in boosting farm income.]
After undergoing sorting processes, these shipped small mandarins have also started appearing in large supermarkets.
A 1.5kg bag is priced about 40% cheaper than regular products.
Consumer response is also positive.
[Kim Eun-joo / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: Since I have a child, I actually prefer smaller sizes over big ones, so I really like this size. It's quite cheap, so it catches my eye, and I think I'll buy them often.]
Apples and sweet persimmons bundled only in small sizes are also gaining popularity at affordable prices, transforming into cost-effective products that increase farm profits while easing the burden on consumers' grocery carts.
(Video by Lim Woo-sik | Video Editing by Lee Sang-min)
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