KGC Ginseng Corp.'s Jung Kwan Jang is raising prices on key products. It is the first increase in three years since an average 6.6% hike in Aug. 2022. With manufacturing costs rising due to factors such as a decline in fresh yield of root ginseng and higher raw material prices, the company appears to have moved to adjust prices.
According to the industry on the 30th, KGC Ginseng Corp. will raise prices by 6% for three products—Jung Kwan Jang root ginseng, Everytime, and Hongsamjeong—starting Oct. 13. By product, root ginseng will go up 7.5%, Everytime 4.9%, and Hongsamjeong 4.7%.
KGC Ginseng Corp. said it had no choice but to raise prices because the fresh yield of root ginseng declined due to abnormal weather, pushing up the price of fresh ginseng. Although the company had maintained prices by absorbing internally the increases in raw and subsidiary material prices and the rise in logistics and labor costs—both direct and indirect expenses—it said it became difficult to avoid further price hike pressure.
A KGC Ginseng Corp. official said, "For root ginseng products, we had no choice but to raise prices due to supply shortages," and added, "To reduce the burden on consumers, we decided to raise prices after Chuseok." The official continued, "While we are unavoidably adjusting prices due to accumulated expense increases, we have minimized the scale of the hike," and added, "We will continue to improve production efficiency and yields to reduce costs."