"Clearance sale. Clearance. A whole bunch of bananas for 2,000 won — come get them."
The calls rang out around 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Gimpo Bukbyeon five-day market in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, just days before the final dog day of summer. With closing time approaching, vendors fanned themselves with electric fans and strained to flag down the trickle of customers passing by. Unsold fruit and vegetables piled high on unattended stalls, while chicken sat waiting in baskets packed with ice.
A 67-year-old fruit vendor surnamed Kim, who has sold at the Gimpo market for 11 years, arrived at 7:30 a.m. that day. With customers failing to materialize, she had already cut her prices by closing time. "There are so few customers that I'd almost be better off staying home," she said. "It's so hot I feel like I'm going to get heatstroke." She added that peaches she used to sell for 8,000 won were now going for 6,000 won. "The heat has stunted the fruit — it's all small. Whatever's left, I have to sell cheap."
Ahn Chi-young, 58, who sells meat, was busy sorting through his remaining chicken. "The truck is still full of stock," he said with a rueful smile. "The last dog day of summer falls on a weekday this year, so everyone's eating out with their coworkers — it doesn't help business the way it used to."
The Gimpo five-day market normally draws around 400 vendors, filling the parking lot to capacity on market days. On Wednesday, fewer than 200 showed up, leaving gaps throughout the grounds. Although the heat wave had eased slightly — with the day's high reaching 30 degrees Celsius — both vendors and shoppers were noticeably scarce.
Dwindling foot traffic is not the only hardship facing vendors here. The heat wave has also driven up produce prices. A 59-year-old vegetable vendor surnamed Kim, who has worked the market for 25 years, complained that wholesale costs have eaten away her margins. "Prices are so high that even when I sell, I barely break even," she said. A box of cucumbers that cost 60,000 won ($42) three days ago now runs 80,000 won, she said, adding that she clears only about 5,000 won per box.
Official data confirm the squeeze. According to the Korea Agricultural Marketing Information Service, the retail price of 10 cucumbers stood at 7,977 won on Wednesday, up 38.8 percent from the previous month. A head of cabbage rose 28.5 percent to 3,509 won, broccoli jumped 45.8 percent to 1,930 won, and spinach surged 87.3 percent to 1,088 won. Onions also rose 10.1 percent to 1,604 won.
Clothing vendors said they too are feeling the pinch, pointing to rising naphtha prices that have pushed up the cost of fabric. A vendor who has sold clothes at the market for 40 years said margins have all but vanished. "You have to keep prices low to attract customers, but domestic products have gotten more expensive, so there's almost nothing left over," he said. "I can't just raise prices freely, so my margins are nearly gone."
Lee Hong-ju, a professor of consumer economics at Sookmyung Women's University, said the combination of extreme heat and high prices is eroding the appeal of traditional markets. "As the heat wave and inflation converge, consumers have even less reason to visit traditional markets," Lee said. "Price competitiveness is key to drawing shoppers, but with the heat wave reducing vegetable yields and pushing prices up, even that advantage is fading."
siuu@heraldcorp.com
