The South Korean government has announced the continuation of tariff exemptions on a variety of imported fruits for the first half of 2025, aiming to mitigate rising food prices.
Since January 2024, imports of bananas, pineapples, mangoes, grapefruit, and avocados have been exempt from tariffs, with durian and mangosteen added to the list in April 2024. These exemptions, typically subject to a 30% duty, will remain in place through June 2025, each with specific volume quotas.
The established quotas are as follows:
- Bananas: Up to 200,000 tonnes tariff-free.
- Pineapples: Up to 46,000 tonnes tariff-free.
- Mangoes: Up to 25,000 tonnes tariff-free.
- Grapefruit: Up to 6,000 tonnes tariff-free.
- Avocados: Up to 2,000 tonnes tariff-free.
- Durian: Up to 1,700 tonnes tariff-free; typically subject to a 45% tariff.
- Mangosteen: Up to 1,400 tonnes tariff-free.
Additionally, import duties on mandarins will decrease from 50% to 20% under a quota of 2,800 tonnes. However, under the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the tariff on U.S. mandarins is already lower at 9.6%. Similarly, the duty on orange imports will be reduced from 50% to 20% for a quota of 10,000 tonnes, applicable during January and February. KORUS also provides tariff-free quotas for U.S. orange imports, amounting to 3,565 tonnes in 2025.
These measures are part of the government’s efforts to address food price inflation by reducing import costs on essential fruit commodities.
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