"Melting from the Heat"... Vegetable Prices Surge Amid Heatwave

[Anchor]

Prices of vegetables vulnerable to heat are rising day by day. Concerns are growing over whether the prolonged phenomenon of "heatflation," where scorching weather drives up inflation, is here to stay.

Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the story.

[Reporter]

Lee Young-hee runs a restaurant at a traditional market in Seoul.

Lately, she feels a sense of dread every time she goes grocery shopping.

[Lee Young-hee / Restaurant Owner: This morning at the market, while I was buying these (vegetables), do you know what the vendor said? They told me, 'Prices went up significantly today.']

Due to the prolonged heatwave, the prices of heat-vulnerable vegetables have risen across the board, with cucumbers—a key ingredient for gimbap—surging 59% compared to a month ago.

The price of zucchini, used as a garnish for knife-cut noodles (kalguksu), spiked by 46% over the past month, while onions and carrots rose by 10% and 9%, respectively.

As crop yields deteriorated due to the heatwave and drought, the wholesale price of napa cabbage nearly doubled.

[Jang Gwi-bong / Vegetable Vendor: Because it's too hot, they just don't grow; they melt. Things like this used to cost around 2,500 won per bundle, but now they are 5,000 or 6,000 won—almost doubled.]

The price of spinach has also doubled. Because it easily spoils in the heat, vendors cannot even display it outside.

[Jang Gwi-bong / Vegetable Vendor: Spinach melts because of the hot weather, so it's impossible to leave out. We wrap it in newspaper and only provide it to customers who specifically ask for it.]

In-season fruits have not been spared from the heatwave either.

Watermelon prices rose 13% over the past month, while peaches soften quickly from the heat, making it difficult to fetch proper prices for them.

[Geum Cheol-su / Fruit Vendor: When they arrive, if you touch the peaches, they feel warm. The peaches have absorbed the heat, so we have to sell them quickly. By the afternoon, we sell them with almost no margin.]

As "heatflation"—inflation driven by hot weather—takes hold, consumers' grocery baskets are getting lighter.

[Hong Seon-ja / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: Vegetables, eolgari (summer cabbage), young radishes, napa cabbage, those have gone up a lot. It's too burdensome to buy, so we end up looking for cheaper alternatives.]

The government stated that recent vegetable prices remain relatively low compared to typical years, and announced plans to ease the burden on consumers by offering government-backed discounts of up to 40% at large supermarkets and traditional markets leading up to the Chuseok peak season.

(Reported by Kim Hak-mo | Video by Park Ji-in | Graphics by Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.