The price of Korean Muscadine grapes has plummeted to nearly 90% in the past three years. Is Taiwan experiencing a sweet price?

South Korea’s muscadine grape has fallen from the altar.

Korean Muscadine grapes, which used to be considered a "noble fruit", are now experiencing an avalanche in price, causing local fruit farmers to complain! A fruit farmer revealed that three years ago, a 2-kilogram box of Muscadine grapes could still be sold for 60,000 won, but now it is only 7,000 won, a drop of 88%. One box is even sold at a loss. A traditional market in northern Taiwan has also seen price cuts for Korean Muscadine grapes recently, from 280 yuan per catty at the beginning of the season to 199 yuan per catty, a drop of 29%.

South Korea's "Kyonghyang Shimbun" reported that 69-year-old fruit farmer Liu Changyu runs a vineyard in Gimcheon City. Seeing that mid-October is about to enter the best harvest period, he is not at all happy. He revealed that the production cost of a 2-kilogram box of Muscadine grapes is at least 9,000 won, but currently each box can only be sold for 7,000 won, and the price cannot even cover the cost.

What’s even more sad is that three years ago, the same box of grapes could still be sold for 60,000 won. Last year, it dropped to 30,000 won. This year, there are only 7,000 won left. The price has shrunk by nearly 90% in just three years.

Liu Changyu lamented that as he gets older, he can still rely on his past savings for a while, but young returning farmers who have invested a lot of money in purchasing equipment and seedlings may have a harder time surviving this wave of low-price crisis.

According to data from the Korea Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Distribution Corporation, the average wholesale price of muscat grapes at the Seoul Cola Market on October 5 was approximately 6,222 won per 2 kilogram box. The main reason for the price collapse is oversupply. The planting area of ​​Muscadine grapes in South Korea has surged from 278 hectares in 2016 to 6,458 hectares in 2023, expanding more than 23 times in just 7 years.

Liu Changyu pointed out that in the past, the price of Muscadine grapes was three times that of ordinary grapes, and the yield was two times higher. The income from the same area could reach six times, which attracted a large number of farmers to rush for planting, eventually leading to oversupply in the market.

To make matters worse, some farmers harvest in advance to capture the market, causing grapes with insufficient sweetness to flow into the market, hurting consumer confidence.