SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The premium cooking oil market in South Korea has reached significant growth as ‘well-being’ demand among consumers continues to expand.
The Korea Customs Service reported that imports of extra virgin olive oil, which currently leads the premium cooking oil market, reached 13,992 tons last year, breaking a 13-year record.
This year, 11,075 tons of extra virgin olive oil were imported between January and August, surpassing last year’s imports over the same period by 26.5 percent.
The Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp. reported that the retail market for cooking oil in 2018 was valued at 311.2 billion won (US$271 million), down by 3.6 percent from 2016 (322.9 billion won).
Canola (35.7 percent) and soybean oil (23 percent) currently account for more than half of the country’s cooking oil market.
In contrast, retail sales of olive oil jumped from 44.8 billion won in 2016 to 46.3 billion won in 2017 and 48.7 billion won in 2018, boosting market share from 13.9 percent to 15.7 percent over the same period.
Image Credit: Yonhap / Pixabay / photonews@koreabizwire.com
Pingback: Korea: Premium Cooking Oil Imports Break 13-yea...