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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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 Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:43 am Post subject: Will we get cheap wine and cheese? Good beer? |
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Korea and the EU have agreed their FTA treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8308433.stm
I'm betting a month's salary that this will have virtually no effect on the high prices of European goods in Korea. The importers and retailers will just pocket the margin and keep the prices high. Koreans won't notice anything. |
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weatherman
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:50 am Post subject: Re: Will we get cheap wine and cheese? Good beer? |
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| eamo wrote: |
Korea and the EU have agreed their FTA treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8308433.stm
I'm betting a month's salary that this will have virtually no effect on the high prices of European goods in Korea. The importers and retailers will just pocket the margin and keep the prices high. Koreans won't notice anything. |
I agree. If it is one thing Koreans know how to do in the local market is gouge. |
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UknowsI
Joined: 16 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:51 am Post subject: |
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I saw this on Arirang news today. Does it mean that it will no longer be high status to drive European cars? I guess it will boost the american car industry  |
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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:11 am Post subject: Re: Will we get cheap wine and cheese? Good beer? |
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| weatherman wrote: |
| eamo wrote: |
Korea and the EU have agreed their FTA treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8308433.stm
I'm betting a month's salary that this will have virtually no effect on the high prices of European goods in Korea. The importers and retailers will just pocket the margin and keep the prices high. Koreans won't notice anything. |
I agree. If it is one thing Koreans know how to do in the local market is gouge. |
As long as anyone can sell the good (which may not be so, as the distribution chain is virtually a monopoly, here), this won't happen. If you can sell a block of cheese for 500won cheaper you will sell more and make more money. Supply and demand, bitches! |
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halfmanhalfbiscuit
Joined: 13 Oct 2007
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:18 am Post subject: Re: Will we get cheap wine and cheese? Good beer? |
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| eamo wrote: |
Korea and the EU have agreed their FTA treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8308433.stm
I'm betting a month's salary that this will have virtually no effect on the high prices of European goods in Korea. The importers and retailers will just pocket the margin and keep the prices high. Koreans won't notice anything. |
If they reduced prices would people still buy them? |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:30 am Post subject: Re: Will we get cheap wine and cheese? Good beer? |
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| halfmanhalfbiscuit wrote: |
| eamo wrote: |
Korea and the EU have agreed their FTA treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8308433.stm
I'm betting a month's salary that this will have virtually no effect on the high prices of European goods in Korea. The importers and retailers will just pocket the margin and keep the prices high. Koreans won't notice anything. |
If they reduced prices would people still buy them? |
Right. That's one bizzare aspect of shopping in Korea. A lot of middle and upper class Koreans wouldn't buy a reasonably priced bottle of wine.....they would be embarrassed to not pay more than 50,000 for a bottle of wine. The retailers know this. They know that most Koreans don't realize that great wine can be bought in TROTW for about 10,000 won.
So they can charge crazy prices here.
One restaurant owner I'm friendly with had a swanky galbi place in Gangnam. He told me that if he had something on his menu that wasn't selling well, he would RAISE the price of it! Then sales of that item would pick up.
Supply and demand doesn't mean that much here. Marketing is everything. Make Koreans believe that paying a lot for something will enhance their status, and you've got big seller.
Hallabong oranges are a great example. They taste like normal oranges to me, but Koreans pay about $3 apiece for them. Happily!! 3 bucks for an orange!! |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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From what I understand, hop prices are/have been taxed heavily in Korea making life difficult for micro-breweries. They could buy from the big guys like Hite but they set their hop prices just below what the imported price is.
Further, microbreweries are prohibited from selling wholesale, they cannot bottle their product and sell to bars etc. So for now we are stuck with the big brands of beer  |
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Aelric
Joined: 02 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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| wormholes101 wrote: |
From what I understand, hop prices are/have been taxed heavily in Korea making life difficult for micro-breweries. They could buy from the big guys like Hite but they set their hop prices just below what the imported price is.
Further, microbreweries are prohibited from selling wholesale, they cannot bottle their product and sell to bars etc. So for now we are stuck with the big brands of beer |
So that is why! Well, thanks for the worst news ever, I guess. At least it's not a total mystery to me anymore. |
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jdog2050
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| wormholes101 wrote: |
From what I understand, hop prices are/have been taxed heavily in Korea making life difficult for micro-breweries. They could buy from the big guys like Hite but they set their hop prices just below what the imported price is.
Further, microbreweries are prohibited from selling wholesale, they cannot bottle their product and sell to bars etc. So for now we are stuck with the big brands of beer |
Actually this is changing as of next year (thanks to 2MB). If your microbrewery produces more than X tonnes of beer/year you will be able to sell it to bars as of January. |
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steveinincheon
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
Location: in The Shadows of Gyeyangsan
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Thing is, a lot of smaller imported status items (wine, cheese, beer) are relatively new to Korea, have been taxed heavily, so I don't think most Koreans have any clue as to the fair market value of the items elsewhere. Case in point, when my mom visited Korea last spring, the restaurant in her hotel was serving a bottle of Italian wine for 140K won. She mentioned to me that she bought the exact same bottle at CVS pharmacy in the States the week before coming for $6. Because there are so few big distributors in Korea, and because few Koreans know how much imported items cost in other countries businesses can essentially name their own price when it comes to these items. I would be surprised if anyone starts offering deeply discounted imports because of this trade agreement. |
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wormholes101
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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| jdog2050 wrote: |
| Actually this is changing as of next year (thanks to 2MB). If your microbrewery produces more than X tonnes of beer/year you will be able to sell it to bars as of January. |
Sweet. Then I will be able to drink Weitzen at my favourite watering hole 
Any idea on the X tonnes of beer a year limit will be?
This really is great news. Perhaps the tariffs will come off hops, the beer prices will come down, and we we will be able to drink mirocbrewed beer at a reasonable cost in lots of different places! |
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benji
Joined: 21 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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| This could be a good business opportunity for an enterprising foreigner. Undercut the rip off prices. |
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Bloopity Bloop
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Location: Seoul yo
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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| So Bose and Monster Cable must make a killing in Korea... Sadly, they do well enough back home. |
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halfmanhalfbiscuit
Joined: 13 Oct 2007
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Bloopity Bloop wrote: |
| So Bose and Monster Cable must make a killing in Korea... Sadly, they do well enough back home. |
+1
As for hops, Hite had a summer beer with a bit more hops than usual (NZ bullet hops) but I was too late here to see it.
http://www.zenkimchi.com/FoodJournal/?p=1510 |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: Will we get cheap wine and cheese? Good beer? |
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| eamo wrote: |
Korea and the EU have agreed their FTA treaty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8308433.stm
I'm betting a month's salary that this will have virtually no effect on the high prices of European goods in Korea. The importers and retailers will just pocket the margin and keep the prices high. Koreans won't notice anything. |
At first the prices will no change because seller still have to sell of their old stock. But new imports should slowly deflate prices, in other words, cheaper wine in about 2 to 3 years from now. |
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