Ready-made kimchi products are displayed on a shelf at a large discount store in Seoul in this 2021 file photo. Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

Price hikes of Napa cabbage have led to an increase in demand for ready-made kimchi at large discount stores here, but sales have fallen due to a lack of products in stock affected by a short supply of food materials in the country.

Daesang, the top kimchi producer in the world, has recently been distributing only half the regular amount of 3.3 kilogram cabbage kimchi products to a large discount store in Yeoungdeungpo District, Seoul, , according to industry sources, Sunday.

"Sales of kimchi products at large discount stores between Sept. 9 and Sept. 15 decreased 17.7 percent year-on-year. It is not due to decreasing demand or deteriorating quality of the food, but because of a short supply of stock," a food firm official said.

It is not only cabbage that is seeing supplies fall short. Radishes, a main ingredient to for another variety of kimchi, are also seeing supplies fall short of demand.

Normally, kimchi manufacturers secure necessary food materials before the summer season comes. However, unfavorable weather conditions including a heat wave and heavy rain affected local farms since July and kimchi makers have failed to secure enough supplies of cabbage and radishes.

This trend is likely to continue as bad weather conditions have hindered famers from planting new cabbage from late August to early September.

"The kimchi making season comes in November each year, but farmers believe they won't be able to produce enough supply ― resulting in the unstable price of vegetables," a retail firm official added. "We normally start negotiations with kimchi makers to fix the price for pre-orders before Chuseok, but we haven't even started talking about it as the supply and price of cabbage is still unpredictable."

The official added there is big chance of cabbage prices rising further compared to last year, but added that the situation will get better in mid-November.

The same short supply issue involving cabbage occurred two years ago. The price of food materials went up from 12,000 won ($8.63) per 10 kilograms in August 2020 to 25,000 won in mid-September that year. A prolonged monsoon and two typhoons hindered local farmers from planting cabbage on a regular schedule.

As the weather conditions returned to normal, the price of cabbage in October fell 30 percent compared to the previous month, at the time.