Earnings from restaurants located near local markets in some areas of North Korea reportedly dropped in April. The decline is thought to be due to falling numbers of market-goers and merchants, who are the primary customers for these establishments.
Daily NK analyzed the monthly earnings of specific North Korean restaurants and found that the April earnings of restaurants located near local markets in some areas of the country have fallen by around 22% since January and by around 20% since March.
A restaurant in Hoeryong in April earned 4.9 million won (KPW), while another in Pyongsong earned 5.04 million won. A Sinuiju restaurant earned 7.4 million won while another in Sariwon earned 5.5 million won. These figures are in sharp contrast to average sales of 7.3 million won in January and average sales of 7.16 million in March.
Total sales at these restaurants increased by around 7% in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year, but by April the restaurants’ total earnings had decreased by around 15%.
North Korean sources reported last month that the number of merchants has fallen at local markets and businesses are not doing well. The fall in restaurant earnings strongly suggests that markets are facing stagnation.
Daily NK also reported that the profits of porters (delivery workers that use hand carts) drastically fell in April in some areas of the country. Porters receive money for transporting items from bus terminals, train stations and local markets, and their fall in earnings is another sign that North Korea’s markets are struggling.
In April, North Korean porters earned an average of 2.05 million won in Hoeryong, 1.12 million won in Pyongsong, 2.05 million won in Sinuiju, and 1.10 million won in Sariwon. Their earnings fell by around 13% compared to average earnings earlier this year (1.83 million won) and by around 23% compared to March (2.05 million won). Porter earnings have fallen by more than 21% since the same period last year.
“The newspapers and radio are talking a lot about sanctions and people are saying that the situation these days is like the Arduous March (widespread famine of the mid-1990s). Consumers are increasingly only buying what they need, not what they want,” a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK.
“People can really feel that business isn’t what it used to be. Businesses are feeling the impact.
Experts say, however, that there’s a need to carefully determine whether the falling earnings in some industries in the country is actually due to sanctions given that they will take some time to impact the market.
