Snack prices in Korea up 20% on hikes in materials, energy costs

Banana Kick and French Pie [Sources : Nongshim and Haitai]

Prices of popular snacks in South Korea have surged 20 percent on average over the past year due to globally high grain and energy prices, taking a toll on consumers already grappling with expensive daily necessities.

An analysis by Maeil Business Newspaper of data from Korea Price Information showed Monday that the prices of 15 popular Korean snacks rose by an average of 20 percent in November from a year ago.

The price of Nongshim’s Banana Kick in particular surged 53.6 percent, Haitai’s French Pie 29.1 percent Matdongsan 25.8 percent, and Ace crackers 25.4 percent. Haitai’s Honey Butter Chip was the only snack whose price remained flat over the past year.

Some snack packets got smaller as manufacturers reduced serving at the same price to save cost.

The price of Lotte Confectionery’s Kkokkalcorn, or sweet corn chips, remained the same as that from a year ago but the packet got smaller from 72 grams to 67 grams. Orion also kept the price of Hot Break chocolate bar but reduced the overall weight to 45 grams from 50 grams from October.

The price of Nongshim’s Ojingo Chip increased 7.5 percent this year by 70 won ($0.055) and the packet also got smaller from 83 grams to 78 grams.

The sharp increase in snack prices is mainly due to a surge in the prices of ingredients like wheat and sugar as well as high energy cost for factory operation. The 20 percent surge, however, is considered too high when considering that the price of ramen, one of Korea’s most favored instant noodle, also made of wheat, gained about 10 percent.