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| Workers produce sea salt at a salt farm in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, in October 2021. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon |
By Jun Ji-hye
Some Korean shoppers are moving to hoard sea salt amid growing concerns over potential health hazards stemming from Japan's planned discharge of radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant as early as this month, according to industry officials Tuesday.
On Monday, Japan began to carry out a two-week test run on the process for discharging water containing tritium, an isotope of hydrogen, from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was devastated by a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in March 2011.
An increasing number of consumers here have been apparently rushing to buy salt in bulk to store at home before the wastewater discharge begins.
A store of Suhyup, or the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, increased the price of 20 kilograms of the salt produced in 2021 from 25,000 won ($20) to 30,000 won, beginning last Thursday.
Sinan County accounts for about 85 percent of the country's salt production.
According to the store, the same amount of salt traded at 14,000 won last April.
"We had usually sold 10 bags of that salt a day, but with the increasing news about the Fukushima wastewater discharge, about 1,000 bags have been sold," an official from the store said. "We had no choice but to increase the price due to increasing personnel and delivery expenses."
The salt is currently sold out on its website.
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| The 20-kilogram sacks of salt produced in 2021 are sold out at a website of a Suhyup store in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province. Captured from Suhyup store website |
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries denied that the salt price has increased due to hoarding amid the Fukushima concerns.
"The major cause for the salt price rise was a decrease in production due to more rainy days than usual and retailers' stockpiling in preparation for the monsoon season," a ministry official said.
But the view of industry players was different. They said that while this year's production decreased by about 30 percent from a year earlier, this was not enough to explain the soaring salt price at present.
"Japan's plan has scared consumers off. This would not be the sole reason for increasing salt prices but had some impact for sure," an official of a salt farm in Sinan County said.
Korea already saw salt prices soar in March 2011 when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, damaging the Fukushima plant's cooling systems. At the time, the market price of 20 kilograms of salt was 10,500 won, up 93 percent from a year earlier.
In April 2021, the Japanese government announced a plan to start releasing radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean from the wrecked Fukushima plant on the east coast of Japan.
The plan has invited strong objection, not only from neighboring countries but also from local residents and fishermen in Japan.
In Korea, the previous Moon Jae-in government expressed its opposition to the plan. But the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration, which has been striving to improve the country's relations with Japan, maintained a position that the government would not be able to stop it if the scientific analysis of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the government's inspection team did not uncover problems.
Meanwhile, the fisheries ministry said its monthly radioactivity checks on the sea salt across the country, which began in April, have found no radioactivity so far, noting that it will continue to expand the checks in a bid to ease fears.
