South Korea’s CU to expand fresh meat sale at nationwide stores

CU will sell fresh pork belly and pork neck of the Hypork brand each in a 500-gram package. [Image source: CU]

Consumers in South Korea will be able to buy fresh pork belly at more CU convenience stores as the brand has decided to expand fresh meat sale to across the country.

CU announced Monday that it will now sell fresh meat at all of its stores except for those in Jeju to meet growing demand for short-distance grocery shopping. CU had 250 stores equipped with a special refrigerator for fresh meet.

CU will sell fresh pork belly and pork neck of the Hypork brand each in a 500-gram package. The meat will come in a container on top of a vacuum package for freshness. The expiration date has been shortened to 7 days from 15 days. The fresh meat will be sold between Thursday and Sunday when demand is high.

CU’s move comes as more consumers go grocery shopping at their local convenience stores.

Food ingredient sales at CU surged 19.1 percent in 2022 from the year ago. Sales of agricultural and fisheries products also rose 35.3 percent.

CU plans to sell two types of seasoned meat products from March.