Korea’s fresh fruit imports increased 10 per cent between 2011 and 2014, with cherry, mango, grapefruit and pomegranate imports seeing significant growth.
Cherry imports tripled to 13,359 tonnes and mango imports grew more than 500 per cent to 10,599 tonnes in 2014, according to data from the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI).
The increase in imported fruit has been driven by consumers in their twenties and thirties, according to the Korea Times, which has also reported that the increase in imported fruits has had a small impact on local fruit consumption.
'Imported cherries have the effect of replacing the consumption of locally produced watermelons, melons and grapes in the spring and summertime,' a KREI official told the Korean new site. 'Likewise, bananas and oranges imported in winter have slowed the demand for pears, sweet persimmons, apples and tangerines.'
