The number of imported chili powder has been increasing year by year due to the decline of chili plantation area in South Korea and the decline of production as a result of aging. Recently Chinese-made chili powder and chili sauce have been highly favored by the Korean public and restaurant owners.

Chili powder is an indispensable condiment in the daily life of South Koreans as well as in the preparation of food in restaurants, and Chinese-made chili powder is favored by South Korean consumers due to its good quality and cost-effective price. The quantity of imported chili powder is increasing every year, and the proportion of Chinese chili powder in the Korean market has reached about 40 percent.

South Korea's self-sufficiency rate of domestic chili powder has dropped sharply compared with the past, mainly due to the reduction of planting area. Farmers need to frequently control pests and diseases in the process of growing chili peppers, and a lot of manpower is needed in the harvesting stage as well. Affected by the aging, elderly farmers have limited energy to plant too many peppers, hire people to work and labor costs are very expensive, so you can only reduce the size of the pepper planting area, the output also followed the decline.

Data show that this year, South Korea's national chili pepper planting area hit the lowest level since 1975 since the statistics. This year's chili pepper production decreased by more than 10% year-on-year, hitting the lowest level in the past three years.

Benefiting from the China-Korea FTA, South Korea imported more than 100,000 tons of chili sauce from China last year, a record high, not just chili powder. China's chili sauce is highly regarded by the Korean condiment industry for its affordability and ease of use. According to a survey, a number of well-known Korean food companies use Chinese chili sauce and seasoning powder mixes as raw materials.

Types of Chinese chili sauce

1, Sichuan and Chongqing red oil chili: in Sichuan and Chongqing, oil chili is based on red chili peppers, sesame seeds, peanuts and other dry chili seasoning, also known as red oil chili. In Sichuan and Chongqing, it is impossible to have a meal without a bowl of red, colorful red oil chili, and there will be red oil chili on the table of every family and every restaurant.

2, Shaanxi oil spices: Shaanxi's chili peppers are not very spicy despite their reddish color and tangy flavor. Shaanxi chili pepper to the famous Qin pepper is mainly, Qin pepper is characterized by the color of red, strong flavor, with Qin pepper made of oil splash hot pepper, the color of that is called a good-looking, but also the aroma of abnormal.

3, Hunan chopped pepper sauce: no matter what to eat, Hunan people will be equipped with chopped pepper, even if you eat a scrambled eggs must have chopped pepper to do with. Hunan's freshest fresh red pepper, with garlic and ginger, fermented enough days, spicy Hunan chopped pepper can be eaten. Even if you don't eat the food, you can eat several bowls of rice with a big spoonful.

4, Hainan yellow lantern chili sauce: yellow lantern chili pepper is known as the world's "king of peppers", its spiciness up to 150,000 hotness units, in the world of chili pepper in the second place, for China's hottest chili. Yellow lantern chili pepper is generally made into fresh chili sauce by Hainanese people, some made into oil chili sauce, some made into oil-free chili sauce.