Gimflation grows 30% despite government efforts

The retail price of Korean staple gim (dried seaweed) jumped almost 30 percent last week from a year earlier, as demand for the food outpaced its supply due to booming exports.

Gim (dried seaweed) products are displayed in a supermarket in Seoul on Monday. The average retail price of gim rose 29 percent as of last Friday from a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation. [YONHAP]

The retail price of Korean staple gim (dried seaweed) jumped almost 30 percent last week from a year earlier, as demand for the food outpaced its supply due to booming exports.

Gim, an increasingly popular export food item, was priced at 1,304 ($0.95) won per 10 sheets as of Friday, according to data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation. It is up 29 percent from the same period a year earlier. From a month earlier, the price jumped 12 percent despite the government’s efforts to reign in the soaring prices through a supply stabilization scheme.

The government last week announced plans to expand seaweed production by 3 percent through an additional 2,700 hectares (6,700 acres) of new farming sites in response to the steep price surge and to respond to the booming exports. This was an expansion from the ministry’s previous announcement in March to develop seaweed aquaculture sites measuring 2,000 hectares.

The wholesale price of gim stood at 10,440 won per 100 sheets as of Friday, up 58 percent from 6,628 won a year earlier.

Gim's popularity has grown through the popular Korean drama series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” (2022) in which the main character regularly eats gimbap, a rice roll wrapped in seaweed. Frozen gimbap, which can be microwaved, also became a highly viral dish in the United States last year.

Gim exports by weight came to 35,446 tons last year, up 16 percent from a year earlier. Compared to 2020, the figure jumped 42 percent in three years.

Gim exports through March this year totaled 9,461 tons, up 2 percent on year. But total export amount soared 22 percent to $231.55 million, as the unit price increased.

Exports were helped by rising demand from emerging markets like Thailand, which simultaneously brought down domestic inventory below the usual level.

The rise in the price of gim led to a jump in the prices of items sold at gimbap restaurants.

Gimbap franchise TeacherKim upped its gimbap price by up to 500 won from early April, with its iconic gimbap roll priced at 4,500 won from the previous 4,300 won. Another gimbap franchise, Gimgane, raised the prices of its food in the second half of last year.

The average price of a roll of gimbap in Seoul rose 6.4 percent on-year to 3,323 won as of last month, along with other common food service items like naengmyeon (cold noodles) and bibimbap (mixed rice with vegetables), according to data from the Korea Consumer Agency.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]