South Korea's Kimchi threatened

Hello! Today, I read an article about South Korea's facing first ever trade defict in kimchi, Korea's traditional dish. According to JoongAng daily, Korean newspaper, South Korea's kimchi export to other countries dropped down 29 percent compare to last year. This is due to the increse of Kimchi import which is made from cheap Chinese cabbages. In fact, the sales of Chinese Kimchi increased to 76 percent in the same period. This means that South Korea is now importing more Kimchi than they are exporting. South Korea started to import kimchi from China since 1996. Why are imports incerasing in South Korea. This is because South Korean food service industry's demand is growing. These companies are in competitive situation and in order to cut the cost, they are using cheap Chinese Kimchi. When I read this article, it reminded me of similar situation in my country. In Japan, national rice industry is also suffering from cheap rice exported from China, U.S. and so on. But now, I think the situation is changing. Despite of the higher price, many consumers are choosing to buy Japanese rice which tastes better. Aloso, restaurants are putting more emphasis on quality than quantity or price. So, I think this trend will also appear in South Korea.