A customer picks a package of blemished apples on display under a special sales campaign for "ugly" fruits at E-mart's branch in Seongdong District in Seoul in this 2020 photo. Korea Times file

Imperfect fruits and vegetables, typically rejected for display on supermarket shelves, are selling quickly due to steep rises in prices of fresh produce caused by supply shortages.

These "ugly" fruits and vegetables are tasty and nutritious, but they were often unsold due to cosmetic imperfections such as discoloration, blemishes, bruises, being too small or too large, among other flaws.

Under these circumstances, sales of imperfect produce surged a remarkable 235 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the previous year, according to data from TV home shopping company NS Shopping.

The company also reported selling "ugly" goods worth 10 billion won last year through its special campaign aimed at promoting sales of cosmetically flawed fruits and vegetables.

Consumer demand for these produce items is driven by their pricing, which is typically 20 to 30 percent lower than standard-size and -shape produce.

Regarding standard produce, the price of apples surged by 80.4 percent year-on-year in May, while the price of pears rose by 126.3 percent year-on-year.

The overall price of fresh produce grew by 19 percent year-on-year in May. This rate of increase represented a slight slowdown from 20.3 percent in April, but remained higher than the 15.4 percent increase seen in January.

Experts are supporting increased sales of "ugly" fruits and vegetables as a strategy to manage high prices of fresh produce.

They also emphasized that such sales are crucial for addressing food losses, noting that approximately 5 trillion won worth of agricultural goods are wasted simply because of their imperfect appearances.