North Korean prices of vegetables and fruits have changed little despite recent heat waves and monsoon rains, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK last Thursday that vegetable and fruit harvests “weren’t so bad, though this doesn’t mean there weren’t production problems due to the heat waves and monsoon rains.”
He added: “If there were issues, produce wouldn’t have entered the markets, but that currently isn’t the case.”
In South Korea, the prices of vegetables and fruits are skyrocketing due to heat waves and torrential downpours.
But in North Korea, vegetables and fruits in markets this rainy season are actually cheaper than they were around this time in previous years. Daily NK’s source said it was impossible to find fruits for under KPW 7,000 last year, but that this year it is possible.
Based on the source’s report, a kilogram of peaches, plums and apricots cost KPW 5,500, KPW 4,000 and KPW 3,000, respectively, in North Korean markets this year. This is cheaper than in 2021, when they cost KPW 9,000, KPW 12,000 and KPW 11,000, respectively, in South Pyongan Province’s markets.
Fruits and vegetables are just not selling much in markets
Rodong Sinmun touted in an article on July 7 that peach production in Kwail County increased more than 50% from last year, despite abnormal weather such as heat waves and torrential rains.
The relative stability of North Korean vegetable and fruit prices despite the heat waves and monsoon rains appears tied to falling demand which, in turn, has been caused by worsening economic conditions.
“We’re getting a lot of vegetables and fruit from interior regions, but they are cheap because they are not selling,” the source said. “People can’t afford to eat them [even if the price falls].”
Nowadays, many people cannot even put corn mixed with rice on the table, so with the exception of rich households, most eat fruit only during events such as weddings or ancestral rites. Knowing this, merchants do not raise their prices, the source said.
“If the border opens, Chinese vegetables and fruits will enter, so the price might fall even more,” the source said. “When that happens, even people who are hard up will be able to afford the cheaper fruit, but it will still be a luxury.”
Meanwhile, North Korea’s government is emphasizing self-reliance in vegetable and fruit production.
“All the state does is make life unlivable for farmers while saying, ‘You can do anything with just loyalty and your own bare hands,’ or ‘Self-reliance is the path to survival,’” the source said. “The state has constantly thanked the Supreme Leader [North Korean leader Kim Jong un] if farming turns out well, and blamed officials and farmers if it doesn’t.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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