CJ CheilJedang will lift prices on 27 products — including its flagship Hetbahn instant rice, dumplings and grilled fish — by an average of 8 percent at hypermarkets from July 30, with convenience stores following on Aug. 1.
Increases range from 4 percent to 12 percent, with Hetbahn rising the most at 12 percent.
The company attributed the move to persistent cost pressure from higher prices for raw materials and naphtha-based packaging. It excluded convenience-store staples favored by younger shoppers, such as Hetbahn Cupbahn and desserts, and pledged sweeping summer discounts from next month to ease the burden on consumers.
Sajo Group will follow on Aug. 3, raising factory prices on canned goods, fermented pastes and cooking oils after concluding talks with hypermarket chains.
Canned mackerel and saury will jump 20 percent and canned tuna 10 percent, while red-pepper paste, soybean paste and sesame and perilla oils will each climb 12 percent. Sajo had already raised prices on fish cakes and imitation crab by 6 to 7 percent on July 2.
The two firms join a lengthening queue.
Ottogi raised factory prices on 29 items from July 16, led by a 17 percent increase for pepper products, while Lotte Chilsung Beverage lifted prices on 44 products by an average of 5.3 percent from June 26 — its first adjustment in about two years.
The wave has gathered pace since the June 3 local elections, as companies that had held back under the government's informal pressure to contain prices moved swiftly once the vote was over.
The government expects further gains in food and dining prices in the second half, citing a stubbornly weak won, rising imported raw-material costs and mounting labor and logistics expenses — leaving households braced for a heavier grocery bill in the months ahead.
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