Small Business Agency, Hana Financial and Merchants Group to Supply Discount Eggs to Neighborhood Supermarkets

Neighborhood supermarkets will receive 120,000 trays of “the Good Egg” ahead of the Chuseok holiday under an agreement between South Korea’s Small Enterprise and Market Service, Hana Financial Group and the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise.

The partners signed the agreement on Sept. 4 at Hana Financial Group’s Myeongdong headquarters in central Seoul. The plan limits distribution to neighborhood supermarkets and sets the consumer price at 9,990 won for two trays, or 60 eggs.

The average retail price for a tray of 30 eggs stood at 7,332 won in August, according to the Livestock Products Quality Evaluation Institute. The two-tray package therefore costs about 31.9% less than that benchmark. The project was designed to reduce the burden of holiday shopping and improve the competitiveness of neighborhood stores.

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We planned this to reduce the burden of shopping and revive consumer sentiment by supplying a basic food ingredient at a low price.

The Small Enterprise and Market Service will prepare pricing and fair-trade guidelines, promote the project and oversee its implementation. Hana Financial will provide a contribution to cover logistics costs, while the merchants’ federation will connect distributors with poultry farms and use its nationwide distribution network to supply stores.

Lim Dong-hyuk, an official in the agency’s distribution support team, said the project was planned “to reduce the burden of shopping and revive consumer sentiment” by offering a basic food ingredient at a lower price. Agency chairman In Tae-yeon called the eggs the result of cooperation combining the agency’s planning, Hana Financial’s contribution and the merchants’ federation’s execution. The agency said the project follows earlier initiatives involving discounted soju and beer.

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The Good Egg is the result of win-win cooperation that combines the Small Enterprise and Market Service’s proactive planning, financial institutions’ contributions and the small business association’s ability to carry it out.