With Daehan Flour Mills lowering flour prices, CJ CheilJedang will cut prices for sugar and flour to help stabilize consumer prices. Sajo Dongaone also decided to reduce the prices of bulk and household flour sold in the market by an average of 5.9%.
On the 5th, CJ CheilJedang will lower prices for all business-to-consumer (B2C) sugar and flour products. The price cuts apply to Beksul white sugar, brown sugar and other B2C sugar products (a total of 15 product lines), as well as first-grade cake flour, first-grade all-purpose flour and first-grade bread flour products (a total of 16 product lines). Sugar prices will be cut by up to 6%, averaging 5%, and flour prices will be cut by up to 6%, averaging 5.5%.
A CJ CheilJedang official said, "We decided to lower prices to reflect recent international raw sugar and wheat price trends and to actively support the government's price-stabilization stance," and added, "Ahead of the holidays, we hope this will help ease consumers' burdens, even if only a little."
That day, Sajo Dongaone also announced a decision to cut flour prices. A Sajo Dongaone representative said, "We decided to lower flour prices to reflect the recent stabilization in global wheat quotations, to actively participate in the government's price-stabilization stance, and to reduce the burden on consumers ahead of Lunar New Year."
The price cuts cover premium Chinese-cuisine flour and all-purpose flour used as raw materials for jjajangmyeon in Chinese cuisine, as well as first-grade cake flour and first-grade bread flour used for confectionery and baking. Prices will be reduced by up to 6%, averaging 5.9%, across 20㎏ bulk packages and 1㎏ and 3㎏ household small packages.
Amid recent allegations of flour price collusion, there has been a trend across the industry toward price adjustments. Since the late 1990s, the flour market has formed an oligopoly structure with major companies such as Daehan Flour Mills, Sajo Dongaone and Samyang Corporation.
Daehan Flour Mills lowered prices for major flour products by an average of 4.6% on the 1st. The reductions apply to 20㎏ bulk products such as GomPyo premium noodle flour (Australian wheat), GomPyo first-grade all-purpose flour and Elephant first-grade bread flour, as well as 3㎏, 2.5㎏ and 1㎏ products supplied to retailers.
Meanwhile, Samyang Corporation said, "For now, we have no plans to cut prices," but added, "We continue to review whether to adjust prices as needed, considering market conditions such as raw material prices and exchange rates."