Coupang said on the 13th that it will work with Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, to newly commercialize strawberries that have lost marketability and are difficult to sell normally so they can be used in cafe and bakery products.
The product Coupang started selling this time is the "strawberries for bakery & decor." It is commercialized for use as a topping on tarts and fresh cream cakes, and is composed of medium and small strawberries in the grading system.
Strawberries are classified into extra-large and large (21 g or more), top and medium (17–20 g), and small (12–16 g). As smaller sizes are harder to distribute in the general market, farms have often disposed of strawberries at low prices for jam or processing. In particular, with recent climate change effects such as heavy snowfall increasing the share of medium and small sizes, farms have faced a greater burden in securing sales channels.
Nonsan is the nation's largest producing area, yielding about 28,000 tons (t) of strawberries annually. However, with the share of medium and small sizes projected to rise to as high as 40% of total output through Apr. this year due to climate effects, securing sales channels has emerged as a key task.
To address this, Coupang signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nonsan in Nov. and began in earnest to expand sales channels for high-quality local agricultural and specialty products and support online sales. Coupang decided to increase purchases of medium and small strawberries to commercialize them as strawberries for bakery & decor and expand nationwide dawn delivery. Nonsan plans to support stable sales by securing supply volumes and providing dedicated packaging materials.
A Coupang official said, "We will continue to strengthen cooperation with local governments to resolve the various difficulties facing rural farms."