"Nothing Stays the Same, Everything is Up"... Long Queues Form for Half-Price Hanwoo

[Anchor]

Although Chuseok is meant to be an abundant holiday, many people say that skyrocketing prices make it difficult to go grocery shopping with a light heart. To stabilize Chuseok prices, the government has decided to expand the supply of holiday items to a record level and monitor the prices of major items on a daily basis.

Reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

A long line has formed in front of the meat counter.

With Hanwoo (Korean beef) prices hovering around 10 percent higher than last Chuseok, people flocked to the market upon hearing the news of a half-price sale.

Major seafood items, such as cutlassfish and pollock, have also jumped by nearly 10 percent compared to last year.

A consumer who picked up a fish and put it back down eventually gave up on the purchase and turned their attention to government-supported discounted seafood items that began at large supermarkets today (September 10).

[Supermarket Shopper: Prices are just skyrocketing through the roof. I came by a bit early when it was quiet to look around and buy things like that...]
Vegetable prices, such as spinach and zucchini which soared due to the heatwaves, show no signs of dropping.

[Supermarket Shopper: I stopped by Costco, checked the apartment market, and came here last. I buy things while comparing prices.]

It is estimated that the cost of preparing the Chuseok ancestral ritual table will exceed 300,000 won even when shopping at traditional markets.

[Lee Ji-yeon and Kim Kyung-ja / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: It is too expensive. (Herbs have gone up a lot.) We really cannot buy them. So we just buy a little bit at a time.]

[Kim Jong-sung / Traditional Market Merchant: I definitely feel that the number of customers has decreased by about 20 to 30 percent compared to last year.]

With the Chuseok holiday just two weeks away, the government has introduced even stronger price stabilization measures.

It has expanded the list of participating discount entities, including the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup) and the food industry, and extended the discount period through the end of this month.

At traditional markets, starting from the 16th, which is one week before Chuseok, approximately 30 percent of purchase amounts will be refunded in Onnuri gift certificates.

Following the decision to abolish the limit on agricultural and livestock product discount support by adding 90 billion won to the existing 100 billion won, the government also announced plans today to intensively crack down on rip-off pricing.

[Han Sung-sook / Prime Minister: Please flawlessly execute the Chuseok livelihood stabilization measures and respond strictly to price-disturbing activities.]

In addition, the government plans to survey 36 major items every day until Chuseok to monitor price trends in real time.

(Video Journalist: Lee Moo-jin, Video Editor: Cho Mu-hwan, Designer: Lee Jae-jun, VJ: Lee Ji-hwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.