Consumer Trends on the Health Benefits of Tropical Superfruits in Korea

Consumer Trends on the Health Benefits of Tropical Superfruits in Korea

Juhee RHEE1,2*, Chankyu LIM1, Inmyeong CHOI1

1Rural Development Administration (RDA), Rep. of Korea 2Bioversity International-APO, Malaysia

Corresponding author:[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Major fruits grown in Korea’s temperate climate include apples,pears, grapes, peaches, citrus, and persimmons. Statistics for theyear 2013 indicate that the production and cultivation area of fruitcrops were 2.5 million ton and 160, 800 ha, respectively. Export andimport of fruit crops were US$ 233M, and US$ 1,498M respectivelywith an almost six fold increase in revenue. The major importedtropical fruits are banana, pineapple, and mango; and these fruitsaccount for about 98.9% in total import. Banana constitutes thehighest imported fruit into Korea totaling to almost 230,771 ton(188 million US$), with Philippines in 2013. Other major exportingcountries for tropical fruits include Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.Imported tropical fruits with the potential of being diversifiedinclude dragon fruit (pitaya), mangosteen, pomegranate, passionfruit, guava, and avocado. The consumption of fruit per person was63.2 kg in 2013. Some of the notable seasonal fruits arestrawberries in spring; peaches in the early spring and mid-summer;watermelons, melons and grapes, apples and pears flourishing in theautumn and late autumn; with persimmon and tangerines consumed inwinter. Koreans tend to favor fresh fruits, with a taste preferenceleaning towards fruits that are sweet and sweet with sour. As partof Korea’s strict quarantine regimes, all imported fruits have to gothrough treatments of chilling (-30℃) or vapor heat (46~48℃). Themajority of Koreans have become health conscious and prefer fruitswhich contain high nutrient value and rich in antioxidants. There isincreased market potential of new tropical superfruits such aspitaya and mangosteen into Korea.

Key words: tropical fruit, consumption, quarantine, import, export, production

INTRODUCTION

South Korea area is 100,032 square kilometers, lays between latitudes 33 and 39 N, and longitudes 124 and 130 E. S. Korea tends to have a humid continental climate and a humid subtropical climate and is affected by the East Asian monsoon, has four distinct seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Its terrain is mostly mountainous, most of which is not arable.Major fruits grown in Koreainclude apples, pears, grapes, peaches, citrus, and persimmons. Someof the notable seasonal fruits are strawberries in spring; peaches in the early spring and mid-summer; watermelons, melons and grapes, apples and pears flourishing in the autumn and late autumn; with Persimmon and tangerines consumed in winter season.

As the opening of the fruit market and FTAs has expanded to Korea-Chile and Korea-USA, there has been a rapid increase of fruits import since the 2000s. Since the FTA, the reduction of tariffs and imported expenses, the diversification of imported fruit types, and consumption of imported fruits has increased annually.

The production, export, import and consumption trends of fruits in South Korea are to be investigated. There is need to find out the views and preference of consumers of imported fruits.

Fruit Production

Fruit cultivation area is 161,000 ha in 2013, 9.4% of which agricultural land area is 1,711,000 ha. Production value of fruit is 4,114 M US$, 25% of which horticultural crops is 16,616M US$, and9.2% of which total agriculture production value is 44, 608M US$.

Table 1. Fruit production

Fruits production 2000 2005 2010 2013Total production (1000 ton) 2,428 2,610 2,458 2,522Cultivation area (1000 ha) 173 160 162 161Total production value ( M US$) 2,581 3,082 3,584 4,114

Total processing performance (1000 ton) 130 206 183 180

Production status of major 6 fruits included apples, pears, grapes, peaches, citrus, and persimmons are as below table 2.Top of fruit

cultivation area is apples, 30,000 ha, persimmon follows next, 29,000ha, tangerine 21,000ha, grapes 17,000ha, and pear and peach 14,000ha, respectively.

Table 2. Production of 6 main fruits

FruitsCultivation area (thousands

ha) Production value(M US$)

2000 2005 2010 2013 2000 2005 2010 2013Apple 29 26 31 30 497 467 740 1057Pear 26 21 16 14 387 339 228 314Grapes 29 22 17 17 514 496 546 517Peach 14 15 13 14 185 199 156 280Tangerine 26 22 21 21 634 811 931 916

Persimmon 31 27 32 29 233 622 729 593

Table 3. Production of tropical fruits in Korea

Tropical fruits Acreage(ha)/Number of farmers2001’s 2007’s 2011’s

Pineapple 18.1/54 6.1/16 0.3/1Mango 7.2/10 18.1/37 22.6/42Pitaya 2.8/9 9.5/22 4.6/15Guava 1.0/2 5.7/15 3.6/16

Atemoya* 1.0/2 2.5/15 0.9/5Banana - 1.6/4 1.3/3Papaya 0.4/2 0.4/2 0.1/1Avocado - 0.2/1 0.6/3

Passionfruit - 0.2/2 0.2/2*Atemoya is a hybrid between sugar apple and cherimoya.

Plastic house Mango cultivation system

Fig.1. Views of Mango cultivation in plastic greenhouse with

heating machine

The tourism industry has created an exceptional niche for the cultivation of subtropical and tropical fruits. In addition to this,globalization has made Korea a melting pot of various nationalities and cultures, with a large number of restaurants creating unique delicacies and beverages using tropical and sub tropical fruits as its ingredients. These phenomena have resulted in a surge in demand for subtropical and tropical fruits within the Korean market. Most tropical fruits are cultivated in Jeju island where is occupied about 34.2 ha in 2011. Among them, mango is widely grown at the cultivation area of 22.6 ha and 42 farming households.

Export and Import of fruits

In Korea, most tropical fruits are highly dependent on import from Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and distributed into domestic market. Now, the kinds of imported fruits are varied from bananas and pineapples to mangos, dragon fruits, avocadoes, guavas, and mangosteensThe major imported tropical fruits are banana, pineapple, and mango;and these fruits account for about 98.9% in total import. Bananaconstitutes the highest imported fruit into Korea totaling to almost230,771 ton (188 million US$), with Philippines being the largestexporter (213,230 ton) in 2013. Other major exporting countries fortropical fruits include Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Another development is the increasingly rapid import of mango duringthe last decade. Mango has now become hugely popular amongst Koreansand is often given as a gift. Imported tropical fruits with thepotential of being diversified include dragon fruit (pitaya),mangosteen, pomegranate, passion fruit, guava, and avocado.

Table 4. Export and import value status of fruitsFruit 2000 2005 2010 2013

Export value (M US$) 45 120 195 233

Import value (M US$) 43 120 945 1,498

Export and import of fruit crops in 2013 were US$ 233M, and US$

1,498M, respectively with an almost six fold increase in revenue.

Table 5. Export status of Korea fruits

Fruits Export amount(ton) Export value(1,000$)2009 2011 2013 2009 2011 2013

strawberry

2,871 2,424 3,116 19,189 20,606 29,808

apple 10,117 3,408 3,017 19,632 8,874 7,413pear 27,222 17,988 20,120 53,734 47,261 54,869persimmon

10,258 6,897 7,361 10,884 9,363 10,322

According to the current status of export of major fruits in Korea, strawberry, persimmons, pears, and apples has been exported, exportsof strawberry and pear have been increased, persimmon is consistent and apples has been decreased.

Table 6. Import status of tropical fruits

Tropicalfruits

Import amount(ton) Import value(1000$)

2007 2009 2011 2013 2007 2009 2011 2013

Banana 311,803

255,866

351,649

230,772

172,441

162,388

243,955

188,207

Pineapple 78,118

55,378

73,407

54,907

54,20

6

39,23

5

53,21

2

43,58

3

Mango 2,075 1,166 2,581 5,128 615 264 2,422 2,579

Rambutan 1,174 622 1,394 1,086 1,182 608 1,546 1,241

Mangosteen 329 129 741 759 615 264 2,422 2,579

Avocado 660 325 402 528 2,035 1,380 1,966 2,288

Passionfruit - - 40 170 - - 42 219

Lime 8 5 93 97 31 21 134 288

Papaya 189 105 109 75 314 184 243 110

Jackfruit 24 - 1 35 21 - 3 36

Longan 97 86 153 16 114 194 163 32

Pitaya - - 120 4 - - 377 4

(Source : www.foodnara.go.kr)

According to the current status of import of major tropical fruits into Korea, banana was imported the highest from 2007 to 2013 and its volume is 230,772 tons in 2013 and its amount is 188,207 thousand US dollars. Pineapple follows next, and is 54,907 ton and 43,583 thousand US dollars in 2013. Due to the rise of demand, recently, the import of mango is increasing to 5,128 tons (19,189 thousand dollars). Passionfruit has entered Korean market in 2011 and its import reached 170 ton and 219 thousand dollars in 2013, hence, it is expected that consumption of passionfruit will be increased as new tropical fruit.

Most of tropical fruits are imported from Southeast Asian countries.Banana and pineapple which are the most popular in Korea, has been imported from the Philippines. Mango has been imported from the Philippines, which were followed by Thailand, and Taiwan. Rambutan comes from Vietnam and mangosteen is from Thailand.

Table 7. Exporting countries of tropical fruits into Korea

Fruits Main exporting countries(ton)Banana Philippines: 213,230, Guatemala: 3,063, Peru: 1,575 ,

Sri Lanka: 385, Ecuador: 477, Colombia: 164, Vietnam: 120,Thailand: 3

Pineapple Philippines: 54,402, Costa Rica: 287,Taiwan: 40, Panama: 19, Vietnam: 2, Thailand: 0.1,

Mango Philippines: 2,384, Thailand: 1,865, Taiwan: 722, Pakistan: 11

Mangosteen Thailand: 339, Philippines: 2Rambutan Vietnam: 1,028, Thailand: 59Papaya Philippines: 45Longan Vietnam: 10,Thailand: 3

(Source : www.foodnara.go.kr)

Consumption trends of fruits

The consumption of fruit per person was 63.2 kg in 2013. A comparison of major food groups show that the per capita consumptionin 2013 was 67.2kg for rice, 42.7kg for meat, 170kg for vegetables, and 63.2kg for fruits.

The four major climatic seasons experienced in Korea provide opportunity for the abundance and consumption of different fruits unique to each season. Some of the notable seasonal fruits are strawberries in spring; peaches in the early spring and mid-summer; watermelons, melons and grapes, apples and pears flourishing in the autumn and late autumn; with Persimmon and tangerines consumed in winter.

For reasons on selection of preferred fruits, 48% answered taste, followed by 23% who answered health functions, 15.2% said quality, and 13.9% said convenience to handle and consume. The older the age,the more importance was placed on health functions, while the younger adults and youths tended to place importance on quality and convenience, aside from taste. For preferred type of taste, 35.3% sweet taste, 23% sweet with sour, 19.5% juicy and cooling, 17.3 % texture, 4.8% sour and others. Koreans tend to favour fresh fruits, with a taste preference leaning towards fruits that are sweet and sweet with sour. Many Koreans have also become health conscious and prefer fruits which contain high nutrient value and rich in anti oxidants.

Table 8. Consumption amount of agri-food kg/per capita/year

Food crops Vegetables Fruits MeatConsumption(Kg/capita/

yr)119.4 170 63 42.7

Fig 2. Trend in rice consumption from 1970 to 2007 in Korea

1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2007

Fig. 3. Consumer’s preference of fruits in Korea

As economic growth rates drop in the future, it is expected that increase in fruit consumption expenditures according to increased income will also drop. While the gap is small between 2013 and 2020,it is expected that fruit consumption expenditures will increase by 0.41% every year, as the population grows and the proportion of the elderly increases. However, it is forecasted that due to expansion of large distribution chains, increased experience of foreign food culture through overseas travels, and increased FTAs and the gradualprogression of food quarantine negotiations, the ratio of imported fruits will grow further in the domestic fruit market.

Quarantine

As part of Korea’s strict quarantine regimes, all imported fruitshave to go through treatments of chilling (-30℃) or vapor heat(46~48℃). These quarantine treatments affect the flavor andquality of these imported fruits. This problem warrants potentialfuture research which could look into improving the flavor andquality of fruits for increased market potential of new fruits intoKorea.

Conclusion

The majority of Koreans have become health conscious and preferfruits which contain high nutrient value and rich in antioxidants.In order to meet the nutritional balance, reducing the consumptionof rice has increased the consumption of fruits and vegetables.There is increased market potential of new tropical superfruits suchas pitaya and mangosteen into Korea.

Reference

S. K. Choi. 2014. The change analysis of consumer behavior due toexpanding of imported fruits in Korea. p. 129. KREI.Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. http://www.qia.go.kr.Rural Development Administration. 2010. Agricultural Management Standard Textbook Mango. pp.20-39.Ji hwan, Bang. 2002. A Method of Cultivation of Tropical, Subtropical Fruit. pp.46-49.Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. http://www.foodnara.go.kr.Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. 2013. The Present Situation of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock in Jeju SpecialSelf-Governing Province.http://www.kati.nethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/koreaJ:\Tropical Fruit\09_13 fruit import data.htm