"The price is good now. If you have apples, please don't just store them, but ship them."

At an apple farm in Bomun-myeon, Yecheon-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, Park Seung-woo, head of the auction department at the Agricultural Cooperative Federation's agricultural market in Andong, said this on March 27, while handing over cold damage prevention agents to the farm owner. It is a request to ship apples stored in farms to increase the supply of apples whose price has soared through the roof. "Recently, two or three people have been working in groups to find farmers who are storing apples," Park said. “The amount of apples that farmers are storing has also dropped a lot."

The Andong Wholesale Market is where about half of Korea's apples are traded. Some 64.8 percent of the country's apples are shipped from here as the total amount of apples has decreased recently.

The price of apples, which has plummeted in production due to abnormal climate, has rarely fallen. Apple producers are worried that the side effects of the government's “apple subsidy” will make the price of apples from May to July exceed the price of gold and become that of diamonds.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), the intermediate wholesale price of 10 kilograms of apples was 92,120 won as of March 27. This is a 120 percent increase from 41,804 won a year ago. The wholesale price of apples has continued to exceed 90,000 won since it surpassed 90,000 won for the first time in history on January 17 (90,740 won). The intermediate wholesale price is the price at which middlemen and wholesalers sell products to retailers and consumers.

In South Gyeongsang Province, the term "90,000 won apples" was coined, referring to Samsung Electronics' target price of 90,000 won. Some farmers are storing some of their harvested apples in low-temperature warehouses, saying that “100,000 won apples” are just around the corner. North Gyeongsang Province accounts for 60.3 percent of the country's apple cultivation area.

"The price of apples is rising day by day, so many farmers are storing apples in warehouses to ship them at the highest price," said an official at the Agricultural Cooperative Federation's agricultural market in Andong. "This is partly because most farmers have suffered losses due to the unprecedented bad harvest."

Some also criticized that the government's discount subsidies are actually encouraging apple consumption, making apples as expensive as gold. With apples in short supply, there are concerns that overheated consumption could disrupt the supply of apples throughout the year. The government injected 150 billion won in emergency price stabilization funds on the 18th.

"Apples are favorite foods, and when the price goes up, it's normal for demand to fall due to substitution by other foods," said an official from the Agricultural Product Processing Complex (APC), adding, "(The subsidy policy) may reduce the price of apples immediately, but there may not be any apples at all before July, which is the harvest season for apples. At that point, the price of apples will be that of diamonds, not gold."

In fact, the retail price of apples has fallen slightly since the government's injection of funds. The retail price of 10 apples was 24,890 won on the 27th, down 9.2 percent from 27,424 won on the 15th which was before the funds were injected. However, the wholesale price, which is not affected by the government’s discount support, continues to hit record highs.

The apples currently on the market are Fuji varieties, which were harvested in October last year. This variety is sold until the Aori variety, which is harvested from July to August, is distributed. The APC purchases and stores apples during the harvest season to ensure a steady supply of them throughout the year.

Apple farmers are also frustrated. Although the price of apples has increased, the overall income has decreased because there are no apples to sell. Many farmers said that the cost of pesticides they used increased by more than 30 percent due to the increased number of pest control measures and many farmers actually lost money when considering labor costs due to increased workload.

"Last year, many trees lost their leaves, which store nutrients on the stems through photosynthesis, due to cold damage," said Mr. Ahn (65), who has been farming apples in North Gyeongsang Province for 25 years. "The damaged trees cannot store many nutrients, so this year's yield is likely to be low," he added.

"The total production may have dropped by 30 percent, but the number of apples we can sell has dropped by more than half," said Mr. Kim, a farmer in his 60s in Cheongsong. "I get upset whenever I hear about importing apples.” According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the country produced 425,400 tons of apples last year, down about 25 percent from 2022.

Farmers are also complaining that they are blamed for raising the price of apples ahead of the general election. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok said on the 25th that the government would directly stockpile apples like rice. It is interpreted that it is difficult to curb inflation because, in the case of apples, the private sector manages all the supplies except for those of the government's contract cultivation, which stood at 49,000 tons last year.

Mr. Park, who is in his 60s and has been farming apples for 30 years, said, "When the price of a box of apples plummeted to 20,000 won due to an increase in production, has the government ever given a penny in subsidies to farmers?" He added, "I think it is just for the upcoming election to pressure farmers to release the stockpiles without thinking about the amount of apples to be sold from May to July."