Prices are rising steeply enough to feel the difference from day to day. According to the Korea Consumer Agency, the average price of one serving of cold noodles in Seoul was 11,192 won last month, surpassing 10,000 won for the first time. Now, it is difficult to find a restaurant that can solve even a lunch within 10,000 won.
Prices are expected to continue high for the time being. This is because even India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, has banned wheat exports since the 13th at a time when the supply and demand of oil and food raw materials are not smooth due to the prolonged Ukraine crisis. This is why a series of “domino” increases in the price of bread and flour made from wheat is expected.
There’s a big price gap between regions.Why?
The recent rise in domestic prices is mainly due to a surge in global raw material prices such as oil and wheat imported from abroad. But it’s weird. The high price of products imported from abroad is a national phenomenon, but the increase in prices varies greatly from region to region.
According to the National Statistical Office on the 21st, the national average consumer price index rose 3.8% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. By region, Jeju Island rose 4.7% and prices rose the most in the country. On the other hand, Seoul (3.3%) has the lowest increase in prices.
Why did Jeju Island’s prices rise steeper than Seoul? The reason is that even if oil prices rise equally, the weight of oil prices is different when calculating the price indices of Jeju Island and Seoul.
Since Seoul has a good public transportation network, office workers often do not drive directly to and from work. On the other hand, Jeju Island has no subway and the environment for using public transportation is relatively inferior to that of Seoul, so most office workers drive their own cars to and from work. Even if oil prices rise equally, Jeju residents will feel more than Seoul residents. In response, the National Statistical Office set the weight of “oil” products at 58/1000 when calculating prices in Jeju Island in the first quarter. Seoul, on the other hand, weighs 22.6 percent of its petroleum products.
Why Jeju Oil Is Expensive Even if Imported at the Same Price
Jeju Island’s prices will rise even if prices rise equally due to differences in weights, but Jeju Island’s actual pace of increase in oil prices is steeper than Seoul. According to “Opinet,” a oil price information service operated by the Korea National Oil Corporation, the price of ordinary gasoline in Seoul in the first quarter of this year was 1,834.09 won, up 18.0% from 1,554.70 won in the first quarter of last year. During the same period, regular gasoline prices in Jeju rose 19.4% from 1532.34 won to 1,829.77 won.
An official from the National Statistical Office explained, “Jeju Island may have seen its logistics costs of moving and storing oil rise steeper than in inland areas.”
In addition to oil, policy factors also played a part in the sharp rise in Jeju Island prices. The representative item is ‘parking fee’. In the first quarter, parking fees in Jeju Island jumped 442.3% year-on-year. This is because Jeju City has normalized temporary parking fee reduction measures, which have been implemented since February 12, 2020, from January 1 this year to prevent the local economic downturn caused by COVID-19. 제주도 가볼만한곳
Until the end of last year, when the temporary reduction of parking fees was implemented, public parking fees were free for up to an hour. Even if you park all day, 5,000 won was enough for the public parking lot in the “dong” area and 4,000 won for the public parking lot in the township area. From February 2020 to November last year, 7,189,682 vehicles were exempted. However, from this year, the free parking time has been reduced to 30 minutes, and the daily parking fee has risen to 10,000 won in this area and 8,000 won in eup and myeon areas.