[Make It or Buy It] Crop Price Volatility... 'Salted Cabbage' Saved Haenam Farmers

3. How Cabbage Farmers Are Staying Afloat

Cabbage acreage tops 5,000 hectares as onion and garlic prices plunge

Price volatility for fresh cabbage leads farmers to turn to salted cabbage

Hygiene and quality controls give them a competitive edge, steadily boosting sales

In Haenam, South Jeolla, a major cabbage-producing area that accounts for 80% of the nation’s cabbage-growing acreage, cabbage-salting plants were established to weather extreme fluctuations in the price of fresh cabbage. They are now undergoing a qualitative shift toward higher quality and stricter hygiene. As the number of households making kimchi has declined, small-scale salting facilities have begun to disappear. But Haenam farmers are weathering the crisis by expanding HACCP certification and competing on premium quality, lifting annual sales of salted cabbage to around 130 billion won.

At around 10 a.m. on the 12th, seasonal workers harvest cabbage in a cabbage field in Bukpyeong-myeon, Haenam-gun. Photo by Kim Wanjung.

According to retail price data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), one head of cabbage cost 2,647 won at retail as of November 11, down 22.3% from 3,409 won a year earlier. The wholesale price at Garak Market for top-grade Haenam cabbage weighing 10 kg also ranged from 3,800 to 6,500 won, with prices for some grades falling as low as 3,395 won.

The main reason cabbage prices have fallen is that the area under cultivation has increased significantly nationwide. Haenam County, which accounts for about 80% of the nation’s cabbage production, had 4,782 hectares under cabbage cultivation in 2022, 4,195 hectares in 2023 and 4,257 hectares in 2024. The area then rose to 5,044 hectares last year and 5,193 hectares this year, topping 5,000 hectares for the second consecutive year. This was because a surge in onion and garlic prices last year prompted many farmers to switch to cabbage as an alternative crop.

For decades, cabbage prices have fluctuated sharply depending on crop conditions, leading to repeated cases of field disposal, in which perfectly good cabbage is plowed under at harvest time. Farmers who shipped only fresh cabbage often lost out in price negotiations with wholesalers and struggled to find buyers.

To overcome these structural limitations, Haenam farmers began turning to the establishment of “salted cabbage plants” more than a decade ago, processing fresh cabbage to add value. Salted cabbage keeps longer and is more convenient for consumers than fresh cabbage, allowing farmers to secure direct-to-consumer sales channels at relatively stable prices.

At around 10 a.m. on the 12th, seasonal workers were loading harvested cabbages onto a truck in a cabbage field in Bukpyeong-myeon, Haenam-gun. Photo by Min Changi

But demand for salted cabbage has also declined recently as the number of single-person households has increased and store-bought kimchi has become commonplace, leaving fewer households to make kimchi themselves. As demand slowed, small-scale salting plants were driven into cutthroat price competition, and many were forced to close. The number of cabbage-salting plants in Haenam County peaked at 700 in 2023, then fell to 683 in 2024 and 638 last year.

Farmer A, who operates a salting plant in Haenam, said, “Demand for salted cabbage is not what it used to be, and farms that have lost their sales channels have fallen into a vicious cycle of undercutting one another on prices.” A added, “Quite a few small farms have eventually given up both farming and plant operations because they could not even cover labor costs.”

The owner of another salting plant, Farmer B, said, “If competition boils down to price alone, quality eventually declines and the market is flooded with low-priced products, harming the entire industry.” B added, “Cabbage can vary greatly in crispness and flavor depending on how it is grown and salted, so more farmers are looking to compete through distinctive quality.”

Amid the crisis, Haenam County and its farmers chose “rigorous hygiene and premium-quality competitiveness” as their way forward.

The number of facilities in Haenam County certified under the Food Safety Management Certification Standards (HACCP) for salted cabbage has risen steadily from 36 in 2022 to 69 this year, nearly doubling.

The strategy of upgrading quality quickly led to a rebound in performance. Although the total number of salting plants fell, sales of Haenam salted cabbage rose 27.8%, from 2.48 million boxes weighing 20 kg each in 2023 to 3.17 million boxes last year. Over the same period, sales revenue surged by more than 40 billion won, from 92.8 billion won to 133.2 billion won last year, setting a record.

A Haenam County official said, “Although the number of farms participating in salted cabbage production has declined somewhat, the sharp growth in sales shows that consumers have clearly recognized the hygiene standards and quality competitiveness of Haenam salted cabbage.” The official added, “We will continue to support higher farm incomes by modernizing production facilities, expanding HACCP certification, and strengthening origin and distribution-tracking management.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.