Starting next year, tariff-free U.S. mandarins...Jeju citrus impact imminent

(Jeju=Yonhap News) Reporter Go Seong-sik = Jeju Island is anticipating the impact on its local citrus fruits as tariff-free treatment is set to be applied to U.S. mandarins entering the country starting next year. According to Jeju Island on the 3rd, with the enforcement of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2012, it was decided to gradually reduce the import tariff rate of U.S. mandarins from 144% at that time by 9.6% annually. As of this year, the tariff rate is 9.5%, and there will be no import tariffs next year. As the tariff rate for U.S. mandarins decreases, their price has also fallen, leading to an increase in the volume of imports. The volume of U.S. mandarin imports increased gradually from 0.1 tons in 2017, 8.3 tons in 2018, 152.1 tons in 2019, 511.8 tons in 2020, to 728.5 tons in 2021. Last year, when the tariff rate dropped below 20%, 3,999.3 tons were imported. In the first half of this year, with the tariff rate at 9.5%, 7,915.5 tons of U.S. mandarins were imported, more than doubling compared to the same period last year. U.S. mandarins are mainly sold domestically from March to May, and it is feared that this period will affect the price of Jeju citrus fruits, which are also in circulation. In Jeju, Hallabong and Red Hyang are shipped from January to May, and Kara Hyang is shipped in mid-April. Some greenhouse-grown citrus fruits start shipping in May. An official from Jeju Island said, "Mandarins are bound to become a competitive product for Jeju citrus fruits, so we are preparing countermeasures in response to the tariff-free treatment and the increase in import volume." Mandarins are a type of citrus fruit with a thin skin, similar to Jeju's Onju Mireukgam and Manggam varieties, such as Jinji Hyang.

(Jeju=Yonhap News) Reporter Go Seong-sik = Jeju Island is anticipating the impact on its local citrus fruits as tariff-free imports of U.S. mandarins will begin next year. According to Jeju Island on the 3rd, the import tariff rate for U.S. mandarins was set to decrease annually by 9.6% from 144% when the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) took effect in 2012. As of this year, the tariff rate stands at 9.5%, and there will be no import tariffs next year. As the tariff rate for U.S. mandarins decreases, their prices have fallen, leading to an increase in import volume. The import volume of U.S. mandarins gradually increased from 0.1 tons in 2017, 8.3 tons in 2018, 152.1 tons in 2019, 511.8 tons in 2020, and 728.5 tons in 2021. Last year, when the tariff rate dropped below 20%, 3,999.3 tons were imported. In the first half of this year, with the tariff rate at 9.5%, 7,915.5 tons of U.S. mandarins were imported, more than double the amount from the previous year. U.S. mandarins ...