The Origin of the Kimchi Accidents-- Korean Importers
It has been a big hotspot in Korean media recently that excessive lead
was detected in Chinese kimchi and not long after that parasite eggs
were found in it. Is it really news? New as it is, we don't find it as
a fact. The fact is: many importers in Europe, America and Japan have
entrusted the authorities in their countries with the related
detections to Chinese kimchi; no lead was found; no parasite egg was
found.
Here is a question: why is only Chinese kimchi imported to South
Korea contaminated? We will find that it is no coincidence after a
brief survey of the situation of kimchi production in China. There are
three grades of it: the best is to be exported to European, American
countries and Japan, at the price of 1,500 US dollars per M/T; the
pretty good is to be sold domestically in China, at the price of 8300
RMB per M/T, that is, 1000 US dollars; and the least good is to be sold
to South Korea, at the average price of 410 US dollars per M/T, and the
lowest can be 210 US dollars per M/T.
According to the economic rules, agricultural products, differing
from others, which can debase costs by the improvement and renovation
of technology, have a cost that cannot be reduced easily. Land
resources and labors are something that cost almost the same in a
certain area. And, they have been more and more expensive in China
nowadays. The price of kimchi imported by South Korea is much lower
than the fundamental cost. How does it come? Reasons are simple. They
produce kimchi in some simple and crude workshops which are
unregistered in the government, with raw material--cabbage and capsicum
powder of low quality. We can imagine how the final products will be
like. Then, illegal methods will be used to make sure such kimchi can
be exported to South Korea.
As a smart people, Korean must know well about the economic rules.
There can be only one reason why they collect cheap kimchi--they have
their intentions. By importing low-grade kimchi from China, they bring
a public impression that all Chinese kimchi is unqualified and harmful
to human health.
Qingdao Meiying Food Co,. Ltd., as a leading kimchi enterprise in
China, deals most of its exportation with high-level foreign companies.
Scores of Korean importers come to talk about business with it, all in
vain. That is because price is the only thing they would care about.
One such importer even said, "I wonder why you produce so good kimchi.
It's no need at all that you pay so much attention to the quality, as
to heighten the price."
As a matter of fact, Chinese and Korean kimchi, belonging to the
same industry, have their common interests. Producers from both
countries are liable to maintain the good image of kimchi, to set the
consumers' heart at rest to eat kimchi. All efforts by Korean media
trying to do bad to the fame of kimchi is unwise, for most of the raw
materials of South Korea are imported from China. And, it can be easy
if they want to import high-grade Chinese kimchi. All they need to do
is buy it from manufacturers registered in the CIQ, whose products are
qualified and clean enough.

Most of the kimchi products imported
from China are made by Korean kimchi makers, who moved their
facilities to China to reduce the production cost and are selling
their products back to Korea. An MAF official said, "Since late last
year, small-sized importing companies have sprang up, so now it is
difficult to estimate the number of companies." The unit cost of
Chinese kimchi is around W500 per kg, only a tenth of that of domestic
kimchi.

url:
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/ht...409070037.html

Updated Oct.12,2004 14:25 KST

Kimchi Imports Threaten Local Makers
Korea is the home of kimchi, the spicy, pickled-cabbage dish known for
healthy qualities and for setting mouths afire. A little-known fact is
that Korea imports huge quantities of kimchi because of the cheap price
of ingredients in China.

That has local cabbage farmers worried about falling demand. Imports of
kimchi, expected to rise by 65-percent over the next 10 years, are
challenging Korea's reputation as the home of the spicy pickled
vegetable.

There are growing concerns that the increase in imports of kimchi will
crimp domestic cabbage production, hurting earnings among farmers here.
According to Korean government statistics, kimchi imports are seen
surging to 43,000 tons in 2008 from 28,700 metric tons in 2003. In the
first half of this year, imports of kimchi already stood at 23,000
tons. That figure is expected to top 47,000 metric tons in 2012.

Due to a decrease in local demand and rising kimchi imports,
researchers at the Korea Rural Economic Institute predict the amount of
cabbage output in Korea will drop by 18.2 percent by 2012. Prices of
cabbage will drop as much as 28.4 percent.

Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry say Korean-made
kimchi is more expensive than the imported product.

High in vitamins, minerals, and lactic acid, kimchi is eaten at almost
every meal by Koreans. But local restaurants, which are the largest
buyers of kimchi, are increasingly favoring imported kimchi due to
their cheaper price. Officials say it may be too late to turn the tide
as the local restaurant market is already dominated by cheap Chinese
kimchi.

Arirang TV

Updated Oct.13,2004 18:57 KST

Chinese Kimchi Beats Out Korean Kimchi in Japan
China has overtaken Korea as Japan's largest exporter of kimchi.
According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) office
in Osaka, Japan on Wednesday, Japan imported 6.16 billion yen of
Chinese kimchi from January to July, a 30 percent increase over the
same period last year, exceeding the 5.927 billion yen recorded by
Korean kimchi imports from January to July. Until last year, kimchi
made in Korea had accounted for some 50 percent of total kimchi imports
in Japan. Chinese kimchi has become popular in Japan mainly due to
large Japanese stores buying from Chinese producers at low prices.

Some analysts say that there is little need to worry about the sharp
increase in Chinese kimchi in Japan because most Chinese kimchi
exported to Japan is made by Korean or Japanese companies that have
plants in China. They say that compared to reported figures, the actual
percentage of kimchi made by Chinese companies is not as high.

A KOTRA official said that because of the Korea-Japan World Cup and the
popularization of Korean culture in the country, demand for kimchi in
Japan is on the rise and that competition between Japanese, Korean and
Chinese kimchi will heat up in the near future.

)

On 2005-11-02, > wrote:

> Kimchi Imports Threaten Local Makers

Welcome to the real Chinese world!

nb

Home> Biz/Tech
Updated Oct.11,2005 19:29 KST

Chinese Kimchi Safe for Consumption
Korea's food safety watchdog says Kimchi imported from China proved to
be safe for consumption. The Korean Food and Drug Administration says
contrary to recent speculation, the lead content in imported Kimchi was
within the internationally permitted limit. The KFDA's analysis of 58
kinds of the spicy Korean side dish shows that Chinese brands have an
average lead content of 0.05 parts per million, lower than the
international standard of 0.1 ppm.

The Administration embarked on the analysis after an opposition
lawmaker claimed Kimchi imported from China contained high levels of
lead, posing a serious health threat. Imports of Chinese-made Kimchi
have surged in recent years, with half of all Korean restaurants in
Seoul serving the cheaper imports.

Arirang News

Thank you, South Korea, for clearing this up.


Updated Nov.3,2005 19:03 KST

Korean Kimchi in Parasite Shock

China Gears Up to Avenge Korean Food Safety Warnings
China Gathers Information Against Korean Cosmetics
China Investigating Korean-Made Plastic Wrap
Chinese Envoy Urges Calm in Food Import Row
China Hits Back in Kimchi Farce
Parasites Found in Chinese Kimchi
China, Japan Unfazed by Parasites in Korean Kimchi



The Korea Food and Drug Administration on Thursday confirmed Chinese
claims that some Korean-made kimchi are infested with parasites. Mostly
made by small manufacturers, the brands have been sold in department
stores, hotels and via home shopping channels, and also exported to
Japan. The find hits a doubly sensitive spot because it could damage
the reputation of a Korean signature dish for whose healthful
properties large claims have been made and comes hard on the heels of
domestic warnings of parasites in Chinese-made kimchi.

The KFDA said Thursday it tested kimchi products from 502 local
companies and found parasite eggs in 16 brands. The 16 accounted for
4.9 percent of total domestic kimchi production last year.

The tainted kimchi mainly contained the eggs of roundworm, which lives
in dogs and cats. The KFDA assumes the excrement of animals living on
farms where cabbage for kimchi is grown was not washed off properly in
the production process.

However, experts say eating kimchi infested with parasite eggs is
unlikely to cause serious health problems since the eggs are premature
and excreted from the body. Humans are rarely infected by roundworm
from animals, and there are effective worm treatments if they are.

The KFDA also tested 54 Korean-made ingredients for kimchi and found
parasite eggs in one brand of salted cabbage. Tests of 165 Korean
cabbages showed eight infested with parasites, suggesting the blame
lies mainly with cabbage. However, no parasite eggs were found in
Chinese kimchi ingredients like cabbage and hot chilli powder.

The KFDA seized inventories of the tainted kimchi products and ordered
the 16 manufacturers to test the remainder of their stock. Half of the
16 tainted kimchi producers earn less than W100 million (US$100,000) a
year. One of them, the Namyang Agricultural Cooperative in Hawseong,
Gyeonggi Province, has halted operation of its factory.

)