If you are in Korea,... you are never too far anyway from kimchi.<br />It's a must-have side dish for Koreans here and around the world.<br />However, with more kimchi imports flooding in from China,... locally-produced kimchi has been taking a hit in sales. <br />Now South Korea is looking to do something about it.<br />Lee Seung-jae reports. <br />Kimchi, a staple in Korean cuisine,... is the most renowned Korean dish,... made from salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly napa cabbage,... with a variety of seasonings,... including chili powder. <br />There are hundreds of varieties made with different vegetables as the main ingredients <br />Even the art of kimchi making,... is part of Korea's unique cultural heritage.<br />However, South Korea is now running a kimchi trade deficit,... as more Koreans are importing Chinese-made kimchi,... with 40-percent of all kimchi coming in from China.<br />According to the Korea Customs Service,... in 2018,... Korea imported 140-million dollars of kimchi. <br />That's a 40 percent jump compared to 2014.<br />The increase is due to the price competitiveness,... as 10 kilograms of kimchi can be imported from China for less than ten dollars.<br />According to a kimchi industry trend report published by the World Kimchi Research Institute back in 2017,... the average unit price of Korean kimchi was 2 dollars-34-cents while the equivalent price of Chinese kimchi was a mere 81-cents.<br />With domestic kimchi on a downward trend,... the government has been actively promoting the domestic kimchi industry.<br />We will focus on responding to increasing kimchi imports by improving the quality and safety of locally-produced kimchi.<br />The government first plans to increase the price competitiveness of kimchi,... and increase the market share of the domestic kimchi market from 60-percent to 70-percent by 2022.<br />In addition,... more rest areas along the nation's highways will be supplied with domestic kimchi,... while the military will also be given domestic kimchi.<br />Also to increase demand,... South Korea will develop customized kimchi for children and the elderly.<br />Starting in 2020,... all domestic kimchi packages will display a "kimchi quality indicator",... to show the degree of saltiness, spiciness and the maturity of the side dish.<br />Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News. <br /><br />
