If you are in Korea,... you are never too far anyway from kimchi.
It's a must-have side dish for Koreans here and around the world.
However, with more kimchi imports flooding in from China,... locally-produced kimchi has been taking a hit in sales.
Now South Korea is looking to do something about it.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
Kimchi, a staple in Korean cuisine,... is the most renowned Korean dish,... made from salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly napa cabbage,... with a variety of seasonings,... including chili powder.
There are hundreds of varieties made with different vegetables as the main ingredients
Even the art of kimchi making,... is part of Korea's unique cultural heritage.
However, South Korea is now running a kimchi trade deficit,... as more Koreans are importing Chinese-made kimchi,... with 40-percent of all kimchi coming in from China.
According to the Korea Customs Service,... in 2018,... Korea imported 140-million dollars of kimchi.
That's a 40 percent jump compared to 2014.
The increase is due to the price competitiveness,... as 10 kilograms of kimchi can be imported from China for less than ten dollars.
According to a kimchi industry trend report published by the World Kimchi Research Institute back in 2017,... the average unit price of Korean kimchi was 2 dollars-34-cents while the equivalent price of Chinese kimchi was a mere 81-cents.
With domestic kimchi on a downward trend,... the government has been actively promoting the domestic kimchi industry.
We will focus on responding to increasing kimchi imports by improving the quality and safety of locally-produced kimchi.
The government first plans to increase the price competitiveness of kimchi,... and increase the market share of the domestic kimchi market from 60-percent to 70-percent by 2022.
In addition,... more rest areas along the nation's highways will be supplied with domestic kimchi,... while the military will also be given domestic kimchi.
Also to increase demand,... South Korea will develop customized kimchi for children and the elderly.
Starting in 2020,... all domestic kimchi packages will display a "kimchi quality indicator",... to show the degree of saltiness, spiciness and the maturity of the side dish.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.