Pork Belly at 21,000 Won a Serving... Growing Burden of Food Prices

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It is Friday, and economic reporter Han Jiyeon is here with us. Han, we are talking about food prices again today (July 31).

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That likely shows how serious price pressures are right now.

Today, the focus is on dining-out costs.

These days, if two people go out for pork belly and soju, the total can easily approach around 100,000 won.

In the Seoul area, the average price for a 200g serving of pork belly is currently in the 21,000 won range.

That is up 874 won, or more than 4%, from a year ago.

However, since this is just an average, popular restaurants are often much more expensive.

If two people order three to four servings of meat along with naengmyeon (cold noodles) and a few bottles of soju, the bill quickly exceeds 100,000 won.

Interestingly, liquor companies have not raised the factory price of soju.

Only beer prices went up by about 3% last year, yet soju prices at restaurants have surged independently.

A bottle of soju in Seoul costs around 6,000 won, and in the Gangnam area, some places charge anywhere from 8,000 won to over 10,000 won.

With rent, labor, and ingredient costs all on the rise, restaurant owners explain that it is less burdensome to raise alcohol prices rather than food prices.

Pork belly is not the only item getting more expensive.

Naengmyeon is now in the 12,000 won range, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) in the 18,000 won range, and kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) has surpassed 10,000 won.

Gimbap is nearing 4,000 won, and jajangmyeon is close to 8,000 won.

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Judging by that list, meat prices overall seem to have gone up significantly.

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Yesterday, we reported on the sharp rise in leafy vegetable prices, and meat prices—beef, chicken, and pork alike—have all climbed sharply.

Hanwoo (Korean beef) costs around 7,000 won per 100g, jumping nearly 15% over the past year.

Chicken has risen to the high 6,000 won range per 1kg, an increase of nearly 17%.

The rise in chicken prices stems from the culling of over 300,000 broiler breeder chickens due to avian influenza last winter.

Egg prices went up for the exact same reason.

At the time, both egg-laying hens and broiler breeders took a hit.

Wholesale prices for pork have also risen by close to 10%.

Wholesale prices for napa cabbage more than doubled compared to late last month, and green onions are up by nearly 20%.

Driven by these rising ingredient costs, the inflation rate for dining out has stayed at 2.6% for three consecutive months.

The financial burden of food prices continues to grow.

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Lastly, we understand that people need to carefully check fees when signing up for ETFs at banks?

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Choosing the wrong fee payment method can result in paying an average of 7.2 times more in fees.

Bank-managed ETF trusts have been selling extremely well recently.

Sales across six major banks reached 10.8 trillion won this May, expanding 8.8 times in just half a year.

Trust ETFs offer two different ways to pay fees.

First, the upfront (frontend) fee method deducts around 1% of the purchase amount every time you buy an ETF.

The second method involves backend fees, where nothing is deducted at purchase; instead, fees are calculated and deducted upon sale based on the holding period. For example, holding it for a year incurs a 1% fee, while holding it for just a month incurs one-twelfth of that 1%.

Therefore, if you plan to hold an asset for a short period, paying based on the actual duration later is much more advantageous. If you plan to hold it for a long time, paying a single fee upfront is better.

In reality, however, customers frequently made the exact opposite choice, to their disadvantage.

More than 9 out of 10 people who sold their assets within ten days to a month chose the upfront fee structure.

Even though shorter holding periods make deferred fees more favorable, they picked the exact opposite.

Looking at an actual case:

Someone invested 100 million won and made a profit of 78 million won. If they had used backend fees, the charge would have been 560,000 won. However, because they selected the upfront fee charged upon every purchase, they ended up paying over 17 million won.

That is a difference of more than 30 times.

Who typically uses these products?

The average age of subscribers is in their late 50s, and nearly 30% are aged 65 or older.

Over 90% visited bank branches in person and signed up in front of a staff member.

It is hard to dismiss as a mere coincidence that such disadvantageous choices were heavily concentrated among elderly customers who find it difficult to make judgments on their own.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has taken note of this issue.

Authorities stated that they will investigate whether banks recommended disadvantageous options to customers and review the overall fee structure itself.

If you plan on signing up for such a product, please remember to first determine how long you intend to hold it and choose the appropriate fee method accordingly.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.