Korea's total citrus production is forecast at 570,000 metric tons (MT), a 2.1 percent decline from the previous marketing year (582,000 MT), driven by lower yield for open-field tangerines, and a slight reduction in planted area. As the prices of other domestic and imported fruits rise, consumption of relatively cheap citrus - both imported and domestic - is expected to remain strong. Korea's imported orange consumption in MY 2023/24 is forecast to increase by 5.7 percent (5,000 MT) to 92,000 MT from the previous year (87,000 MT), helped by the decrease in domestic fruit supply and a recovery in the supply of U.S. navel oranges.
In MY 2022/23, Korea's orange imports increased by 11.5 percent year-on-year to 87,000 MT due to a shortage of domestic fruit supply during the spring and summer seasons and increased demand for alternative fruits. In particular, orange imports during the months of July, August, and September 2023 increased by 84 percent to 11,494 MT compared to the same period last year (6,260 MT). This was mainly due to the availability of navel oranges from Australia, which also enjoys zero percent duty under the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA).
Imports of Australian oranges increased by 82 percent from the previous year to 12,275 MT, and imports of South African oranges increased by 794 tons year-on-year to 1,957 MT. The United States remained Korea’s top orange supplier in MY 2022/23, with 70,994 MT, up 4.6 percent from the previous year.
Click here to read the full report.
Source: fas.usda.gov