Browse Data and Analysis

E-commerce is one of the largest retail channels and an essential component of the overall consumer market in Korea. Food related online sales in 2023 including food, agricultural products, and food delivery services was once again the largest category, occupying about 30 percent of the total online sales for three consecutive years.

Korea’s marketing year (MY) 2024/25 citrus production is forecast down 2.6 percent to 565,000 MT, a 10-year low, on gradually declining acreage and adverse weather conditions. Jeju Island, where nearly all Korean citrus is grown, experienced a prolonged summer heat wave lasting into mid-September, followed by excessive fall rain, which caused fruit cracking and rot.

Korea depends heavily on imports to meet the demand for dried fruits, though overall demand has seen a slight decrease over the last five years. In 2023, the United States held roughly 53% of the market share for imported dried fruit.

In recent years, the demand for nuts in South Africa – especially almonds – has risen with consumers’ desire for nutritious snack choices and in-home baking ingredients. Food manufacturers have increasingly used almonds in baked goods, breakfast cereals, mixed snacks, granola bars, and trail mixes.

In Marketing Year (MY) 2024/25 growers in South Africa are forecast to divert more citrus volumes towards processing as elevated prices make juicing a lower risk alternative. The production of orange, grapefruit, tangerine/mandarin and lemon in MY...

In 2022 (the latest official data available), South Korea's sales in the HRI food service sector reached 177.12 trillion KRW (137.1 billion USD), a 17.48 percent increase from 2021, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. In 2023, monthly per capita spending on the HRI food service rose to 179,648 KRW (139.1 USD), up 10.66 percent from 2022 and 30.65 percent from 2021.

South Africa's hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) industry has mostly recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the sector continues to struggle from inflation, high food prices, and persistent unemployment. All the same, the food...