South Korea to cut cooking oil and ramen prices by double digits next month

At a briefing at the Blue House, President Lee Jae-myung announced that cooking oil and ramen manufacturers plan to lower prices on some products by up to double digits starting with shipments next month. He thanked the firms for joining the effort to address the crisis.

The president said price reductions in this period are unlikely, and he stressed that the move should help ease the public’s cost of living and stabilize daily life for households.

He acknowledged that companies face global competition and cautioned that the path ahead will not be easy. He urged people to view the price cuts as a shared sacrifice, noting that Korea’s price levels are among the highest in the world and many citizens are feeling the squeeze.

The remarks came during a meeting of the president’s senior aides at the Blue House, underscoring the administration’s focus on inflation and affordability for ordinary Koreans.

Details on which brands or products would be affected were not disclosed, but the price reductions are set to take effect with next month’s shipments.

For international readers, the development matters because Korea is a major producer of consumer goods and a key node in regional and global supply chains. Lower prices for staples like cooking oil and ramen can influence consumer costs, retail dynamics, and trade flows in Asia, with potential implications for U.S. importers, manufacturers, and investors with ties to Korean markets.

The move also signals how economic pressures are shaping policy responses in Korea, a backdrop that can affect Korean exporters, foreign investment, and the broader inflation environment in global markets, including the United States.